Palo Alto Weekly 11.26.2010 - Section 1

Palo Alto

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Farewell to JJ&F Page 3

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MAKING MERRY ARTS

WITH THE

SEASONAL CONCERTS, BALLETS, PLAYS AND OTHER CREATIVE ENDEAVORS ABOUND ON THE MIDPENINSULA PAGE 16 Spectrum 14

Movies 23

Eating Out 27 N News

Puzzles 45

Getting ready for The Big One N Sports Stanford football: Almost worst to first N Home Home tour with a Spanish twist

PAGE 26

Page 5 Page 30 Page 41

This s yea year, give a gift that doesn’t come in a box. ÛiÊÌ iÊ} vÌÊ vÊ> ÊiÝ«iÀ i Vi°Ê This holiday season, take a break from all that shopping and wrapping.

Give an experience and create a cherished memory instead of more “stuff.”

Experience gifts are for everyone: UÊ/ V iÌÃÊÌ Ê>Êë ÀÌ }ÊiÛi Ì]ÊÃÌ>}iÊ« >ÞÊ ÀÊ Û i UÊ Õ> Ê«>ÃÃiÃÊÌ Ê ÕÃiÕ ÃÊ ÀÊ«>À à UÊ vÌÊViÀÌ wV>ÌiÃÊv ÀÊ>Ê >ÃÃ>}i]Êà ÊÀi Ì> Ê ÀÊÀiÃÌ>ÕÀ> Ì Enjoy the holidays knowing you’ve given personal and enjoyable gifts to your friends and loved ones, and you’ve also reduced waste!

(650) 496-5910 zerowaste@cityofpaloalto.org www.cityofpaloalto.org/zerowaste Page 2ÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÈ]ÊÓä£äÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii Þ

Upfront

1ST PLACE

BEST LOCAL NEWS COVERAGE

California Newspaper Publishers Association

Local news, information and analysis

JJ&F market to close; Emerald Market to occupy site New owner plans to take over some time in December

by Jay Thorwaldson

J

J&F, Palo Alto’s longtime neighborhood food store in the College Terrace/California Avenue area, is being sold, owners Lloyd, Dennis and John Garcia announced this week “with great sorrow” in a letter/e-mail to “customers, friends, family.”

“We have been there through

thick and thin, good times and bad, celebrating graduations, marriages, births and family losses,” they said in an e-mail of the past 62 years that the Garcia family has owned the modest-sized grocery store.

Emerald Market of Redwood City is the buyer, according to Dennis Garcia.

They said the economy, changing customer buying habits and the inability of a small market to compete in buying power led to the demise.

“We really wish this was to be a happy letter to you, but we can’t hide it any longer. It is with great sorrow that we have to tell you that JJ&F is going out of business,” the e-mail said.

“Between this terrible economy, and the new consumer shopping habits, we can no longer compete.

We don’t have the buying power of our competition, so things cost more.

“We have tried, but we can’t do this any longer.”

The demise of JJ&F comes despite a 30-year rent guarantee developer John Smailey of Twenty-One Hundred Ventures LLC pledged when the city approved the College Terrace Centre, a 63,411square-foot development filling a city block, in 2008.

The rent guarantee and approval were heralded as a way to “save JJ&F,” although it would also apply to anyone else who operated a grocery store in the development.

The cousins said JJ&F’s leaving “has nothing to do with the College Terrace Center, and/or our landlords. They have been very helpful to us this last year.”

But Emerald will maintain a (continued on page 9)

EDUCATION

Students unleash ‘ideas worth spreading’ Paly, Castilleja hear provocative messages from CEOs, activists, professors and teens

by Chris Kenrick

P

Veronica Weber

Talkin’ turkey Barron Park Elementary School kindergartener Brooke Pearson enjoyed applesauce as part of her turkey feast with fellow classmates and parents at school on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

TRANSPORTATION

Bike-loan program set to roll into Palo Alto City to participate in Peninsula program that will allow users to check out bikes near Caltrain stations

by Gennady Sheyner

P

alo Alto’s residents and workers will soon be able to check out bicycles as easily as they borrow library books, thanks to a new bike-loan program that is scheduled to roll out along the Peninsula in the next two years.

Though the particulars of the program are still being hashed out, the basic premise is simple: Participants would use membership cards

to check out bicycles at various spots throughout the city, including the main hub near the Caltrain station on University Avenue. They would then either return these bikes at the Caltrain hub or at one of smaller satellite stations throughout the city, according to Rafael Rius, Palo Alto’s traffic engineer.

The bike-loan program will be funded by a grant that the Metro-

politan Transportation Commission (MTC) awarded last month to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Rius said. The agency awarded the project $7.9 million, with about $3 million going to the Santa Clara County portion.

The grant will allow participating cities to purchase 1,000 bicycles, with about 400 expected to go to Santa Clara County. San Francisco and San Mateo County are also taking part in the program.

Though exact allocation of bicycles has yet to be determined, Rius said he expects Palo Alto and Mountain View to each get about 100 bikes, while San Jose would get about 200.

Palo Alto has been planning a local bike-loan program since 2008, with former Mayor Yoriko Kishimoto leading the charge. In December 2008 (continued on page 7)

alo Alto students unleashed some “ideas worth spreading” last weekend by mounting their own thought-fests patterned after the well-known TED conferences — which feature provocative talks on a host of subjects later made available on YouTube.

In separate events, students at Palo Alto High School and Castilleja School hosted dozens of speakers, including a convicted felon who now runs a legal-services organization, founders of Silicon Valley start-ups, a famous chef, an array of Stanford professors, and even a few celebrities.

The events were described as “TEDx” conferences — licensed by TED but independently organized.

TED is a 26-year-old conference series sponsored by the nonprofit Sapling Foundation, whose goal is “to foster the spread of great ideas.”

The two Palo Alto events were among 60 such gatherings held this week in venues worldwide. The Palyorganized event was held at the law offices of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

The local TEDx speakers — some students, but most invited adult speakers — generally offered non-traditional approaches to old problems.

Author Blake Boles even promoted the idea of “un-schooling,” telling stories of teens who left traditional schools and found pathways to college or careers by pursuing their passions through independent study, apprenticeships and internships.

Test-prep company CEO Ramit Varma, in a talk titled “How We Learn to Hate Math,” urged mathphobic students to “do the hard work of engaging with math,” noting that online tools make it possible to personalize instruction to the level of any student.

Gunn graduate Trip Adler, co-

founder and CEO of the publishing start-up Scribd, told students, “There’s a major shift happening in the world right now,” adding that “reading is going to become a lot more social” as digital publishing edges out the traditional printed page.

“What I noticed was how brazenly most of the speakers spoke to the audience,” said Linda Wang, a Gunn High School senior who attended the Paly-organized event.

“They seemed very candid, very frank and they set things up for a good dialogue.”

Wang said she was particularly impressed by a speech from former Stanford provost and retired Superior Court Judge LaDoris Cordell, who told students their “responsibility to lead” and to speak up for those who are suffering “begins right now.”

Cordell is “so moving, so powerful,” Wang said. “She’s got a lot of faith in youth, and there’s a lot to be said for that.”

Some students said they previously had attended TED conferences with their parents, or watched them on YouTube.

“My dad has had me watching TED on the Internet every Saturday since seventh grade,” said Jordan Lim, a Monta Vista High School senior who attended the Paly event.

“This (Paly event) really did reflect the spirit of a real TED — that sort of brainstorming was accurately portrayed through this. The creative, offthe-beaten-path ideas — not the usual thing you run into — get introduced here.”

Paly student Grace Harris, one of five “co-editors-in-chief” of her Paly’s “Campanile” student newspaper, said she easily identified with the message of one of the presenters, Stanford Senior Lecturer Denise Clark Pope, who (continued on page 11)

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Upfront

PUBLISHER William S. Johnson

Open House Thursday, December 2 at 7 p.m.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

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450 CAMBRIDGE AVE, PALO ALTO, CA 94306 (650) 326-8210

Sometimes school can almost get in the way of learning. — Rachel Mewes, co-editor of Paly’s “Campanile,� on author Blake Boles’ presentation on “unschooling� at last weekend’s TEDx conference. See story on page 3.

Around Town A MASTER PLAN ... If a tree falls in Palo Alto, or even a branch, you can be sure everyone will hear about it, even if they don’t actually hear it. Last year, community uproar over 63 felled trees on California Avenue prompted a series of apologies and an internal investigation from embarrassed city officials.

These days, Public Works officials and council members are getting lobbied from residents who want the city to chop down damaged eucalyptus trees at Eleanor Pardee Park, as well as from those who want the city to leave the trees alone (the debate was sparked by an incident in January in which a large branch fell off a tree and landed too close to a pedestrian for the pedestrian’s comfort). City officials will discuss plans for tree removal at Pardee Park at two community meetings in early December (the first one will be at 7 p.m. on Dec. 1 at the Lucie Stern Community Center). At the same time, Palo Alto hopes to avoid future tree snafus by pursuing a new master plan for protecting the city’s “urban forest.� This week, the City Council approved a contract with the firm HortScience to help devise an Urban Forest Master Plan that would “help the city conserve, renew and monitor its urban forest� and “identify how to minimize conflicts between retention of the urban forest and construction of development and infrastructure projects,� according to a staff report. The plan is partially funded by a $66,000 state grant, with the city pitching in another $93,604.

THE UNITED CITIES OF PENINSULA ... Depending on your views on California’s high-speed rail project, a recent decision to begin rail construction in Central Valley is either a heartbreaking setback for the Peninsula or a welcomed chance to resolve some thorny issues that have made the project an object of anger and ridicule for legions of Peninsula residents. Palo Alto Mayor Pat Burt and Burlingame Mayor Terry Nagel, both of whom serve on the five-city Peninsula Cities Consortium, are taking the optimistic view.

To that effect, they are calling

for all cities in the Peninsula segment to endorse an open letter to Governor-Elect Jerry Brown, California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO Roelof van Ark, and the area’s federal and state legislators, calling for all parties to take advantage of the opportunities the new delay brings. “Now that preliminary high-speed rail funding has been designated for the Central Valley, we have the time to complete the planning process the right way,� the letter states. The letter requests an “independent ridership study,� a review of the project’s business plan and serious consideration of locally popular rail alignments, such as a tunnel or covered trench — ruled out last year by the authority. Burt, who participates in regular Policymaker Working Group meetings with rail officials and other city leaders, said Monday that he expects the rail authority’s highly anticipated Environmental Impact Report for the Peninsula segment (originally slated for a December release) to be delayed significantly because “the funding for this segment is in all likelihood, at minimum, many years off, if not a decade.�

KEEPING TRASH LOCAL ...

Without a whiff of opposition or a shred of debate, Palo Alto reversed course on Monday night and agreed to fill the local landfill with garbage as soon as possible. In March, the city instituted a ban on commercial garbage at the landfill in hopes of saving space for a possible anaerobic digestion (composting/power generating) facility. But faced with a gaping hole in its refuse fund — estimated at more than $5 million — city officials decided to kill the ban and let the garbage in. Lifting the ban will bring in about $300,000 in fiscal year 2011, according to a staff estimate. Palo Alto will also start bringing curbside waste to the city dump rather than to the Sunnyvale Materials Recovery and Transfer (SMaRT) Station.

These actions, which the council approved unanimously this week, are expected to help Palo Alto fill the landfill by the end of 2011. N

Upfront

GOT

EMERGENCY

WRINKLES?

Unprecedented, broad-based coalitions seek to close gaps in services, training and communications in emergencies

by Sue Dremann

C

onsider the human toll if a bioterrorism event was to occur in Palo Alto. Thousands would end up sick or dead, Eric A. Weiss, M.D., medical director for Stanford Medical Center’s Office of Emergency Management, warns.

In a pandemic, an estimated 20 to 30 percent of Santa Clara County’s 1.8 million people would need medical care, much of it immediate, according to Weiss.

Now multiply that by many hundreds to get to the estimated deathand-injury toll from an 8.3-magnitude San Andreas Fault earthquake occurring at 4:30 p.m. on a weekday — swamping Stanford Hospital and surrounding hospitals and clinics.

Projections are that 250 would die and nearly 1,000 people would need hospital care, according to the city’s emergency-operations plan.

But San Mateo County has no trauma center and many trauma patients would be rushed to join the 1,000 or more seriously injured at Stanford.

Normally, 50 percent of trauma cases seen at Stanford Hospital’s emergency room are from San Mateo County, Weiss said.

Weiss and others say no city alone can handle those numbers, let alone one hospital. That’s why Stanford, the City of Palo Alto and many other groups are banding together to create major, groundbreaking, region-wide disaster plans.

Palo Alto has the Citizen Corps Council, a broad-based coalition of city department heads, commu-

nity leaders and residents. Stanford Medical Center and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital are collaborating with the city, county, state and federal agencies and businesses along the Sand Hill Road corridor to provide and receive disaster services.

The hospital is expanding its trauma center and upgrading its decontamination system. It is upgrading its emergency power supplies that run everything from lights and surgical tools to power-chilled water to cool equipment and produce steam for sterilizing.

And the nonprofit Joint Venture Silicon Valley has implemented a Disaster Preparedness Initiative and is developing a regional public-private “Disaster Resiliency Center� at Moffett Field in Mountain View.

Officials are taking lessons from the Sept. 11 disaster in New York City.

If that was a wake-up call, the floating bodies left by Hurricane Katrina sent the message home, they said. “The horrendous scene we witnessed in New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath — including especially the failed integration of local, state and federal relief efforts — is a subject of compelling interest to Silicon Valley,� Joint Venture Silicon Valley said in a summary of its initiative. “On this basis, our vision for this initiative is simple and straightforward: We would like to know with complete certainty that our region is prepared.� “We need to stand up for ourselves,�

ENERGY

Palo Alto makes switch to LED street lights City Council approves installing ‘greener’ lights at 600 street fixtures, replacing all other lights within five years

by Gennady Sheyner

P

alo Alto’s night owls will soon see their city in a different light — a whitish glow, to be exact.

The City Council on Monday night approved the purchase of 600 LED (light-emitting diode) streetlights to replace the traditional and currently prevalent high-pressure sodium lights.

The project would affect about 10 percent of the city’s total streetlights and replace the familiar yellowish glow with a whiter one. Utility officials hope to replace the other 5,400 streetlights over the next five years.

The new lights would be installed on El Camino Real between San Antonio Road and University Avenue, and on Alma Street between San Antonio Road and University Avenue.

The project is funded by a federal

grant, which aims to promote energy efficiency. The new lights will give the city greater power to adjust brightness and will last roughly four times longer than the current bulbs.

Purchasing Manager Greg Pustelnik wrote in a report that these lights have “excellent thermal management and weather-resistance capabilities.�

The city gave these lights a trial run last spring.

The council voted unanimously to accept a staff recommendation to buy 600 bulbs from the Leotek Electronics USA Corp., for $355,281. Though several council members said they were worried about the broader problem of inadequate lighting in some parts of Palo Alto, everyone agreed that LED lights are the greener and

Steven Jordan, project director of Joint Venture’s Disaster Resiliency Center, said of the effort. Jordan has 37 years experience in emergency management.

It’s a warning long echoed by Palo Alto police Officer Kenneth Dueker, coordinator of Homeland Security and public outreach under the city manager’s office. It is also echoed by Palo Alto Police Chief Dennis Burns, who with Dueker heads the city’s effort to create regional cooperation in the event of a disaster.

The efforts have already been tested. On Feb. 17, 2010, a major incident occurred when a small plane crashed into a PG&E electrical tower and plunged the city into darkness for a full day. The plane then crashed into an East Palo Alto neighborhood, setting homes and vehicles on fire and causing panic among residents. Three people in the plane were killed.

The Palo Alto City Council made disaster prep one of its 2010 priorities — but all agree the preparation takes more than one year. It is built upon step-by-step collaborations and carefully constructed infrastructure, from communications to leveraging every resource available in the community, from the corner drug store that might offer supplies and medications during a pandemic to the hotel with spare beds for the injured or displaced in an earthquake, Dueker said.

Palo Alto’s Citizen Corps Council is collaborating locally and region-

The Aesthetics Research Center is participating in a research study for crow’s feet and forehead lines.

We’re looking for women, age 30-70, with slight to deep wrinkles.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Contact Stephanie at 800.442.0989 or email research@aestheticsresearchcenter.com

The Aesthetics Research Center

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Regional disaster-response plans take priority

(continued on page 9)

more effective option than the sodium lights currently in use.

Councilman Larry Klein said other cities have already switched to the greener LED lights and said it’s time for Palo Alto to follow suit. “Not only are the LEDs much more cost effective and environmentally sound, they also give off in many ways brighter light and better light,�

Klein said.

Councilwoman Karen Holman said she was concerned about the broadcast of light in some areas of Palo Alto and called for the city to reexamine whether Palo Alto needs to install new light fixtures.

Councilman Greg Scharff mentioned inadequate lighting in some parts of town. Scharff said he noticed poor lighting in some parts of his neighborhood when he took his son Trick-or-Treating last month. “I’m shocked by how badly lit it is,�

Scharff said. “It doesn’t seem safe — sometimes it seems pitch black.�

He agreed that clean energy is important, but said the city should also “look at basics,â€? which includes “lighting the streets where my children walk.â€? N Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be e-mailed at gsheyner@paweekly. com. *>Â?ÂœĂŠ Â?ĂŒÂœĂŠ7iiÂŽÂ?ÞÊUĂŠ ÂœĂ›i“LiĂ€ĂŠĂ“Ăˆ]ÊÓä£äÊU Page 5

Upfront

News Digest Rail authority delays study of Peninsula designs

EPA sports field approved amid heated debate Despite residents’ concerns about traffic impacts, the East Palo Alto Planning Commission approved a $3 million playing field for East Palo Alto’s youth Monday night — a memorial sports complex to be named for slain police Officer Richard May. Commissioners approved the field 4 to 1 during an acrimonious and emotional hearing.

The soccer and rugby field, which would replace a dirt and weedstrewn lot behind St. Francis of Assisi Church on Bay Road, has been four years in planning by May’s family and friends through the Rich May Foundation.

The family wanted to establish the field as a way to help keep youth in the city engaged and out of gangs, foundation member Frank Merrill, May’s stepfather, has said in previous interviews. May was shot and killed in 2006 by Alberto Alvarez, an East Palo Alto gang member who has been sentenced to death for the killing.

Planning commissioners have been hesitant to allow the playing field, with some citing traffic congestion.

Sharifa Wilson, president of the Ravenswood City School District, said the project should have an environmental impact report to address impacts on the surrounding neighborhood. She could not be reached Tuesday (Nov. 23) for comment regarding whether she plans to appeal the commission’s decision.

Commissioners required a traffic study to be done by the project architect within one year. N — Sue Dremann

‘Triangle’ development to revitalize eyesore New mixed-use building will try to fill old ‘gap-toothed’ development pattern on El Camino Way island

by Sue Dremann

A

hard-to-develop, triangularshaped land anomaly on El Camino Real that has been a continual nuisance to city officials could soon be developed into a threestory, mixed-use retail and residential building.

The northernmost parcel of land, at 4073 El Camino Real, is located in what are called the “triangle properties.” The 8,141-square-foot property is situated on an island of land sandwiched between El Camino Real and El Camino Way, across from Palo Alto Commons. The island extends from Los Robles Avenue to Arastradero/West Charleston roads.

For years, the parcel has been the subject of a number of code-enforcement cases related to maintenance of the vacant site, according to a staff report to the Architectural Review Board (ARB).

A gas station on the site was abandoned in 1994. A drive-in coffee restaurant was proposed in the mid-1990s and a preliminary ARB application was submitted for a new restaurant in 2007, but no formal applications have ever been submitted.

But the new development by Redwood City architect Ken Hayes of the Hayes Group would construct a 5,486-square-foot, three-story mixeduse building with an innovative solar roof and eco-friendly materials and would exceed the city’s minimum green-building-standard LEED Silver level, according to Hayes.

Two single-family residential units, each approximately 1,800 square feet, would take up two stories above a 1,866-square-foot retail space. The

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

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A mixed-use retail and residential building, designed by Ken Hayes, is proposed for the challenging triangular plot at 4073 El Camino Real (at El Camino Way). main living/dining room areas would be on the second floor with three bedrooms and two full baths for each unit on the third floor. Each residential unit would have a balcony and would share a patio on the rooftop of the retail center, which extends beyond the apartments. A small portion of the solar panels would exceed the 40-foot height limit, according to the staff report.

Access to the site would be from both El Camino Real and El Camino Way, to serve the new building and clients of the adjacent VCA Stanford Animal Hospital.

The city’s vision for the triangle area includes a “village” setting that combines mixed-use development with “pedestrian-friendly streets,” under the 2002 South El Camino Real Design Guidelines and the city’s Comprehensive Plan.

The unusually shaped parcels face difficult development constraints, according to City Planner Jason Nortz.

The buildings have more than one street face and must front both streets to create a coherent streetscape and to eliminate the current gap-toothed look, he said. The height and mass along El Camino Real can be of a larger scale, but the portion of building facing El Camino Way must be lower and less dense, to fit with the more intimate residential character of the nearby neighborhood.

The new building would address those constraints by tiering the building’s mass.

The project asks for a designenhancement exception to slightly reduce the required 12-foot sidewalk width along El Camino Real to about 10 feet. The request was made because the lot is exceptionally narrow, Nortz said. A formal application is expected to be submitted to the ARB at the end of November, he said. N Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be e-mailed at sdremann@paweekly. com.

CITY COUNCIL

Palo Alto tries for ‘transparency’ in new projects Council committee urges earlier deadlines for development applications, ending last-minute changes

Councilman wants state bar to chide attorney Councilman Heyward Robinson of Menlo Park — who narrowly lost a bid for reelection in the Nov. 2 election — has filed a complaint with the State Bar of California against attorney and open-government advocate Terry Francke.

The complaint urges the bar to admonish Francke for expressing a legal opinion to the Daily Post that may have influenced the City Council election outcome.

Robinson, who narrowly missed reelection, filed the complaint on Nov. 5. The Post ran a front-page apology on Nov. 19 for two stories and an editorial that said three Menlo Park council members violated the state’s Brown Act by exchanging e-mails discussing campaign issues. The Post also ran a guest column by Robinson.

The stories ran a few days before the Nov. 2 election. But Robinson discovered that Francke had never actually seen the e-mails before he declared to the Post that “a very serious Brown Act violation” had occurred.

Once Francke did read the e-mails — the day before the election — he retracted his statement and apologized, saying there was in fact no Brown Act issue.

Francke said the new correction was the second correction run by the Post and that he had personally apologized to Robinson. The correction stated only that Francke changed his opinion, not that he changed it after he read the exchange of e-mails — the reason for his changed opinion. N — Sandy Brundage

Courtesy of The Hayes Group

The California High-Speed Rail Authority will delay releasing a highly anticipated analysis of design options for the Peninsula segment of the rail line because of a recent decision to begin construction in Central Valley.

The authority had previously planned to release the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the San Francisco-to-San Jose segment of the $43 billion line in December. The report will evaluate the various design alternatives for each portion of the segment and consider the impacts of the most feasible alternative.

Preliminary versions of the report identified at-grade and elevated trains as the most likely design options for the Peninsula, with tunneling or open trenching in some areas.

Earlier this month, the authority decided to start construction of the 800-mile line in the Central Valley after a grant from the Federal Railroad Administration allocated $715 million specifically for that region of the state. The authority has yet to determine whether the voter-approved project will make its debut on the Merced-to-Fresno or the Fresno-toBakersfield portion of the Central Valley segment.

Robert Doty, director of the Peninsula Rail Program (a partnership of Caltrain and the rail authority), released a statement Nov. 19 saying that the decision by the FRA and the rail authority to give Central Valley the priority “will likely impact the prioritization of the environmental review process for all high-speed-rail sections currently under study.”

“This means that the scheduled December 2010 release of the Draft EIR/EIS for the San Francisco to San Jose section will need to be rescheduled for a future date,” wrote Doty, who is responsible for the design of the Peninsula segment. N — Gennady Sheyner

LAND USE

by Gennady Sheyner

P

alo Alto’s developers would be barred from submitting lastminute changes to their applications under new procedures and rules the City Council plans to adopt before the end of the year.

They would also be forbidden to even talk to individual council members about their projects while their applications are being reviewed by local commissions.

Another proposed change would “strongly discourage” the council members from getting information from developers before the city’s Planning and Transportation Commission and the Architectural Review Board have completed their reviews of the application. Planning commissioners previously expressed concerns that developers frequently ignore the commission and lobby council members directly.

The council’s Policy and Services Committee unanimously recommended new protocols for the council to improve “transparency” in the city’s process for reviewing development applications.

The council began discussing these changes at its Monday night meeting and adopted a series of minor revisions in council protocols.

The council decided to hold off for now on the more substantive changes. Council members voted 8-1, with Nancy Shepherd dissenting, to send the major revisions back to the committee for further discussion. The proposal is scheduled to return to the full council in December for possible adoption.

The policy recommended by the committee would bar applicants from handing staff or council members revisions to applications just before

meetings or public hearings. The revised policy specifies that “all plans and other applicant materials related to Planning applications being heard by the City Council must be submitted not later than noon five working days prior to the release of the Council agenda packet.”

The packet, which includes all staff reports for the upcoming council meeting, typically gets released late Wednesday afternoon, prior to the council’s Monday meeting.

“If items are not submitted by this date or if staff determines additional review is needed, staff will reschedule the item to a future council meeting,” the proposed policy states.

The revisions are spearheaded by Councilwoman Karen Holman and have won support from the city’s land(continued on page 7)

Upfront Illustration courtesy of David Solnick

LAND USE

Palo Alto approves ‘transit oriented’ Birch Plaza development City hopes residents in new mixed-use project on Grant Avenue will rely on public transportation

by Gennady Sheyner

T

he latest development to win the green light in Palo Alto’s bustling California Avenue Business District aims to meet two goals near and dear to the hearts of city leaders: boosting the city’s housing stock and getting people out of their cars.

The three-story “Birch Plaza” project at 305 Grant Ave. will feature office space on the ground floor and eight apartments on the second and third floors, along with courtyards, a pocket park and new street trees. It would also include an underground garage with 19 regular parking spaces and 15 “tandem parking stalls.”

The City Council unanimously approved the new development Monday night.

“This project achieves many of the goals we have in terms of using the Pedestrian and Transit Oriented

District in terms of increasing housing density and also making a more pedestrian-friendly environment,” Councilwoman Gail Price said. “It is my belief that the project before us is an improvement to the immediate neighborhood.”

The project, proposed by developer Harold Hohbach more than two years ago, is the second development to apply for a zone change to Pedestrian and Transit Oriented Development district. The designation allows a greater density and a broader mix of land uses for projects close to a transit corridor, with the goal of getting residents to abandon their cars and shift to trains and buses.

One condition of approval requires the property owner to provide occupants of the new development with transit passes.

But this “transit oriented” project is causing a stir from area neighbors,

who ironically point to car congestion as their number-one concern.

The project, some have argued, relies too much on transit use and would, ironically, saddle the neighborhood with parking problems.

Joe Villareal, who lives at an apartment complex next door to the proposed development, said the area already suffers from a major parking shortage because of poor planning.

When his building was built, Villareal said it only included 19 parking spaces for 57 units because the city assumed the building’s senior residents wouldn’t be driving. Now there is a large waiting list of residents hoping for assigned parking spaces, he said.

Many residents and workers in the area park their cars in the largely vacant lot where the new development would go up, Villareal said. The lot currently includes three single-fam-

Bikes

toward.”

Unlike the local program Palo Alto previously considered, the new one specifically targets Caltrain stations at the participating cities. Kishimoto said it aims to provide train riders with a unified message — that bikes are a viable option for getting around town.

It also aims to solve the problem of the “last mile” by giving commuters a way to get to their ultimate destination once they step off Caltrain, she said.

Kishimoto said she used a similar program when she visited Kyoto, Japan, and found the bike-loan system cheaper and easier than taking a bus or calling a cab.

The program will make its debut at a time when Palo Alto is planning to unveil a host of other improvements to its bicycle infrastructure. City officials are working with local bicyclists and consultants on an ambitious new Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, which they hope will transform Palo Alto into one of the nation’s top bicycle cities. Improvements are expected to include colored bicycle lanes, reductions in car lanes at some city streets

and new signs directing bicyclists to popular destinations.

Cedric de La Beaujardiere, who chairs the Palo Alto Bicycle Advisory Committee, welcomed the new bike-loan program and noted that Paris has a similar program that has been highly successful. Palo Alto is particularly well equipped for such a program because it already has a multitude of great bicycle routes, including Bryant Street, Park Boulevard and a bike path between Churchill Avenue and the train tracks, de La Beaujardiere said.

The planned improvements, including new signage, will make it even easier for local residents and out-oftown commuters to get around Palo Alto streets on bicycles, he said.

“We have a lot of cyclists already, but we’d definitely like to increase the load share, in terms of how many people bike,” de La Beaujardiere said.

“We’d like to have more people biking instead of driving.” N Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be e-mailed at gsheyner@paweekly. com.

designation that allows applicants to build at greater density than the city’s zoning code normally allows in exchange for “public benefits,” which are subject to negotiations between the city and the developer.

Fred Balin, a resident of the College Terrace neighborhood, urged the council to approve the proposed policy revisions and said the new guidelines would allow “for proper vetting,” which he argued was subverted in the application process for College Terrace Centre.

Land-use watchdog Bob Moss also said the revisions are “long overdue” and urged the council to act on the committee’s recommendations. The umbrella group Palo Alto Neighborhoods, which represents neighborhoods

throughout the city, has come out in support of the proposed changes.

No one spoke out against the proposed changes Monday night.

The council briefly discussed the changes, with some members calling for more details about which forms of communications should be included in the new policy for late submissions.

Councilman Larry Klein noted that the changes would apply not just to developers but to other members of the public as well.

The committee is scheduled to consider the policies at its Nov. 30 meeting, when it continues its discussion of council procedures and protocols. N Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be e-mailed at gsheyner@paweekly. com.

(continued from page 3)

the council considered and ultimately decided not to pursue a local program featuring 20 bicycles, which would have cost the city $65,000. At that time, the council also directed staff to pursue regional opportunities for a program with the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA).

Kishimoto, who served on the boards of both the VTA and the airquality district, was one of the leading proponents of the grant application for the regional bike-loan program — an application that the MTC approved last month.

The project, she said, is consistent with the goals of both Palo Alto and the VTA to increase the percentage of commuters who use bikes to get around the city.

“No single program is a panacea, but this is an important step,” Kishimoto said. “It alone won’t do a huge amount, but it might be part of the culture shift that we’re working

Transparency (continued from page 6)

use watchdogs and neighborhood leaders. In March, Holman and Councilmen Yiaway Yeh and Greg Scharff co-authored a memo recommending changes to council procedures to promote transparency and eliminate lastminute submissions.

On Monday, several speakers alluded to recent developments Alma Plaza and College Terrace Centre, which underwent numerous revisions and sparked heated community debates before winning the council’s approval. Both developments were “planned community” projects — a zoning

Birch Plaza, at 305 Grant Ave. in Palo Alto, is a mixed-use project with ground-floor office space and eight apartments above. As a condition of the Pedestrian and Transit Oriented Development district, the property owner must supply new residents with transit passes. ily homes and space for cars.

“The corner of Sheridan and Birch — every day between 25 and 30 cars park here,” Villareal said. “Where will they go when this building is built?”

Land-use watchdog Bob Moss also said he opposes the project for a different reason: The number of housing units proposed by the developer is too small.

City officials consider the California Avenue area as the perfect area for new mixed-use projects and housing developments because of its proximity to Caltrain. The city previously determined that the site could accommodate between 12 and 18 housing units, but Moss noted that the developer is only offering eight.

Palo Alto faces a mandate from the Association of Bay Area Governments to identify locations for 2,860 housing units. Given this

requirement, Moss said, the city should seek to place more units at the Grant Avenue site.

But others agreed with the council that the project would improve the area. Chris Gaither, who lives close to the proposed project, acknowledged that the neighborhood has a “systemic parking problem” but argued that the new development would not add to this problem.

Instead, it would create a better entrance to the busy neighborhood, he said.

“For so many years, it’s been a vacant lot with overflow cars parked at this vacant lot,” Gaither said.

“It’s not a great entryway to the California Avenue shopping and business district.” N Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be e-mailed at gsheyner@ paweekly.com.

Public Agenda A preview of Palo Alto government meetings next week CITY COUNCIL ... The council has no meetings scheduled this week.

BOARD OF EDUCATION ... The board will hold a special meeting on elementary school Single Plans for Student Achievement, required by federal and state law. The board will hear presentations from elementary principals and others on literacy, math, social and emotional well-being, and the use of data to inform instruction. The meeting is scheduled for 9:30 a.m.

Tuesday, Nov. 30, in the board room of school district headquarters (25 Churchill Ave.).

POLICY AND SERVICES COMMITTEE ... The committee plans to discuss the council’s annual retreat and priorities cycle and to continue its discussion of council procedures and protocols. The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 30, in the Council Conference Room at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).

PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION ... The commission plans to discuss the city’s Capital Improvement Program and the commission’s priorities for 2011-12. The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 30, in the Council Chambers at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).

UTILITIES ADVISORY COMMISSION ... The commission plans to hear updates on the city’s electric-outage notification system and on the development of a business plan for an ultra high-speed broadband system.

The commission will also adopt legislative policy guidelines for 2011 and consider the Utilities Department’s energy risk management policy. The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 1, in the Council Chambers at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).

HIGH-SPEED RAIL COMMITTEE ... The committee plans to discuss possible correspondence from the city to California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO Roelof van Ark and to U.S. Congressman John Mica; and to discuss rail-related legislation. The meeting is scheduled for 8 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 2, in the Council Conference Room at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).

ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW BOARD ... The board plans to review the proposed design of 795 Welch Road, a proposal to expand the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. The board will also review plans to widen Welch Road and add a new public street as part of the Stanford University Medical Center Facilities Renewal and Replacement Project. The meeting is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 2, in the Council Chambers at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.). *> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÈ]ÊÓä£äÊU Page 7

Upfront

CityView A round-up of

COMMUNITY

Scholar finalists share hopes, dreams Boys & Girls Club competition demanded essays, speeches, soul-searching

by Chris Kenrick

Palo Alto government action this week

Public Arts Commission (Nov. 18)

Public art: The commission discussed the finalists for the California Avenue Fountain Project and the repairs of the “Digital DNA” statue in Lytton Plaza. Action: None Artists: The commissioned approved Brad Oldham as project artist for Mitchell Park Library and Community Center Bollards Project and Mark Verlander as project artist for the Community Center Teen Game Room Mural. Yes: Unanimous

City Council (Nov. 22)

305 Sheridan: The council approved a zoning change to Pedestrian and Transit Oriented District at 305 Grant Ave. The zone change would allow a development that includes ground-floor office space and eight residential units. Yes: Unanimous Council policy: The council discussed proposed revisions to council “transparency” procedures and protocols and voted to send the revisions back to the Policy and Services Committee for further consideration. Yes:Burt, Espinosa, Holman, Klein, Price, Scharff, Schmid, Yeh No: Shepherd

Interactive white boards: The board approved contracts in the amounts of $447,852 and $517,600 for supply and installation of interactive white boards and sound systems at Palo Verde, Barron Park, Juana Briones, Fairmeadow and JLS schools. Yes: Unanimous

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.

Police probe reported robbery at El Camino Park Palo Alto police are investigating a possible robbery of a transient man that allegedly occurred at El Camino Park Sunday night. (Posted Nov. 22 at 11:25 p.m.)

M-A and residents strike truce over field lights For 59 years, it’s always been dark after sunset on the athletic fields at Menlo-Atherton High School, but no more. There will be lights for football, for lacrosse, for soccer and for practice sessions now that a group of residents concerned with what lights would bring to their neighborhood have dropped their lawsuit and settled with the school district. (Posted Nov. 22 at 11:44 a.m.)

Palo Alto Chamber to move headquarters The Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce will be relocating its offices Dec. 1, moving from its present headquarters at 122 Hamilton Ave. to be a tenant in the Palo Alto American Red Cross building by the Caltrain station.

(Posted Nov. 19 at 3:03 p.m.)

Major sewage spill taints Matadero Creek More than 1,000 gallons of raw, untreated sewage spilled into Matadero Creek in Palo Alto Thursday (Nov. 18), according to Ken Torke, manager of Palo Alto’s environmental control program. (Posted Nov. 19 at 2:08 p.m.)

Audrey Rust tells of POST’s vision for open coast There’s more to open space than the vision of open foothills and Skyline Ridge, Audrey Rust told attendees at the Athena Award luncheon Wednesday (Nov. 17). The bigger vision is to see coastside open space stretching many miles south to the Pajaro River, she said in her acceptance speech.

(Posted Nov. 19 at 11:46 a.m.)

City names interim emergency services coordinator Richard Mallonee, chairman of Santa Clara County’s Emergency Managers’ Association, has been named Palo Alto’s office of emergency services (OES) interim coordinator, City Manager James Keene announced Friday (Nov. 19). Mallonee is being brought in from outside the city and was recommended by people working at the Emergency Managers’ Association, police Chief Dennis Burns said. (Posted Nov. 19 at 11:11 a.m.)

License-plate readers to help fight crime in EPA East Palo Alto police will soon have two vehicle license-plate readers to cut down on stolen vehicles and find wanted criminals, police Chief Ronald Davis has announced. (Posted Nov. 19 at 9:48 a.m.)

AT&T withdraws Palo Alto cell-tower application AT&T has withdrawn its application to install a 75-foot-tall cell-phone tower at the Eichler Swim and Tennis Club in Palo Alto. (Posted Nov. 19 at 9:28 a.m.)

Want to get news briefs e-mailed to you every weekday?

Sign up for Express, our new daily e-edition.

Go to www.PaloAltoOnline.com to sign up.

Page 8ÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÈ]ÊÓä£äÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii Þ

O

Veronica Weber

Board of Education (Nov. 22)

ne is inspired by the Dalai Lama, another by his “always positive” older sister and a third by her grandmother, who went to college.

The 15 finalists in this year’s eighth-grade Scholar of the Year competition, sponsored by the Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula, are full of hopes and dreams.

Four of the finalists shared those hopes and dreams in interviews this week with the Weekly. The four, all students at East Palo Alto’s Willow Oaks and Ronald McNair schools, also spoke about the contest, in which they had to write essays, obtain letters of support and present a speech.

All the students — who come every day for homework help and extracurricular activities at the Boys & Girls Club’s Center for a New Generation — said they are applying for scholarships to private high schools such as Crystal Springs Uplands in Hillsborough, Eastside College Preparatory School in East Palo Alto or St. Francis in Mountain View. Their public-school alternatives are one of the four high schools in the Sequoia Union High School District — Menlo-Atherton, Woodside, Sequoia or Carlmont.

Except for two small charter schools, there are no public high schools in East Palo Alto.

After high school, Quron Myles said he plans to attend community college, then study political science at a four-year college and become a criminal-justice lawyer. Dominiquee Johnson, who writes poetry, aspires to graduate from New York University and be a journalist.

“My speech was about being thoughtful, because I have a little brother who has autism,” finalist Kaiya St. James, an eighth-grader at Willow Oaks, said.

“I talked about how I have to be mindful about his emotions because of what he’s going through at his age.”

Kaiya, a fan of Michael Jackson biographies, said she helps younger students with their homework at the Center for a New Generation. At home, she helps her mother, a nutritionist with Kaiser Permanente, with cooking, cleaning and washing dishes.

Her extracurriculars involve dance — she takes classes in both hip-hop and “praise dance,” both offered after school at the Center for a New Generation on the campus of East Palo Alto’s Flood School.

McNair student Diego Gregory said both his speech and his favorite essay involved his efforts to become more peaceful and empathetic.

“I used quotes from the Bible about peace, and talked about how it’s helped me to become more peaceful,” he said.

“I was inspired by the Dalai Lama, when he came to East Palo Alto (in October). By being more peaceful I have more patience and a longer attention span and I can tolerate a lot more unnecessary drama and problems.

“I just try to listen instead of in-

Finalists for the “Scholar of the Year” competition from the Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula, include (from left) eighth-graders Kaiya St. James, Quron Myles, Dominiquee Johnson and Diego Gregory. terject and argue.”

Dominiquee Johnson, the poet and aspiring journalist, said her best poem is “A Pleasurable War.” The poem is about “a friend that I want to have, but I know isn’t good to have,” she said. “I know they’re going to drag me into things I shouldn’t be in, but at the same time it feels like I should be that person’s frtiend, I want to be that person’s friend.

“The poem is about giving up the addiction of being that person’s friend because I know it’s bad for me.”

Dominiquee said her hero is her grandmother, who lives with her.

“She went to college, and she’s a really good example of someone I want to be like,” she said.

“She’s really sweet, kind, gentle and patient — really patient. She endures a lot, because I’m not the easiest person to live with. She empowers me; she’s always saying, ‘You can do it.’”

Quron Myles, the aspiring lawyer, said his best essay had to do with the Center for a New Generation, and what it means to him.

“It’s not just a program, it’s like a second home,” Quron said. “The mentors are like family to me. They help and guide me through everything.

“I don’t feel like I’m left out — I feel like I belong because of their love and support.”

Quron said he shares a volunteer mentor, Lisa Joyce, with a fellow student, Stephanie Smith.

“She comes every Thursday and brings us snacks and helps us with our assignments,” he said, adding that Joyce also took them on an outing to San Francisco.

“She’s devoted a lot of time to making sure we’re on the right path,” he said. “She tells us that regardless of what anyone says to you, just ‘kill them with kindness — don’t let your bad thoughts interfere.’”

Quron said his hero is his older sister, who went to college and “has a positive attitude toward everything.

“Without that role model, I wouldn’t know which path to take,” he said.

Diego, Dominiquee, Kaiya and Quron were among 15 finalists in this year’s eighth-grade Scholar of the

Year Competition.

In a Nov. 9 ceremony at the Boys & Girls Club, Ashley Campbell, an eighth grader at Hoover School in Redwood City, was named this year’s top Scholar of the Year.

In her speech, Ashley spoke of moving to the United States from Jamaica with her mother and siblings, leaving her father behind. Her mother now works three jobs to support the family and Ashley considers her a major role model. When she arrived in Redwood City, she said she was teased at school because of her ethnic background and difficulty with English.

“All humans deserve the same respect no matter who they are,” Ashley said in her speech.

Peter Fortenbaugh, Boys & Girls Club executive director, said the eighth-grade Scholar of the Year Competition is a local initiative modeled after the high school Scholar of the Year program run nationally through the Boys & Girls Clubs.

“By participating, they gain a set of skills. They have to set goals, figure out what their aspirations are, how to communicate effectively — life skills that are so critical in preparing them to do well in high school.

“They have to write a bunch of essays about their families, about character, about obstacles they’ve had to overcome, about their goals and their community. And they have to give speeches in front of a big crowd (of families and supporters of the club).”

Judges include mayors, police chiefs, Silicon Valley executives, principals — “a very distinguished group of folks,” Fortenbaugh said.

The Center for a New Generation was founded in 1991 by philanthropist Susan Ford and then-Stanford University professor Condoleezza Rice. It merged with the Boys & Girls Club in 1996, and runs after-school programs in East Palo Alto and Redwood City.

Other finalists were Tatyana Spears, Stephanie Smith, Ruben Banegas, Ariandy Jimenez, Angel Lara, Jose Lopez, Tania Gabriel, Yesenia Madrigal, Hector Martinez-Lopez and Jonathan Beltran. N

Upfront

Public Notices

JJ&F

(continued from page 3)

Disaster

(continued from page 5)

ally. It is the coordinating body for all emergency planning and Homeland Security within the community, he said.

Re-activated by the City Council in 2009, the Citizen Corps is comprised of “sectors” that include business, Stanford University, Stanford Medical Center, the Stanford Research Park, schools, seniors, shopping centers and volunteers and neighborhood groups — some of which have pushed for better emergency preparation for years, as did former Palo Alto Mayor Judy Kleinberg during her term in 2006.

Technical working groups investigate funding, set up trainings, and coordinate resources related to pandemics, public health and other issues, Dueker said.

Within the Citizen Corps, the Sand Hill Neighborhood Disaster Committee coordinates with hotels, senior facilities, neighborhood groups and businesses, Stanford Medical Center, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto Medical Foundation, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Ronald McDonald House and Oak Creek Apartments, Rosewood hotel and Vi senior-living residences.

Stanford Medical Center’s Office of Emergency Management plans strategies and conducts joint emergencyresponse exercises.

The hospital has agreements with pharmacies such as Walgreens, hotels such as the Westin and Sheraton and the Palo Alto VA Health Care System to provide medicines, supplies, shelter and other needed resources, Bernadette Burnes-Line, administrative director of the Office of Emergency Management, said.

During the Feb. 17 plane-crash/ power-outage incident, teams from multiple agencies rolled into Stanford Hospital to lend assistance after the lights went out and in case mass casualties occurred. San Mateo County provided emergency medical personnel, Stanford Public Safety and Transportation was ready to deal with traffic, and engineers from SLAC stood ready with generators to light up the Medical Intensive Care Unit, BurnesLine said. Teams from the American

995 Fictitious Name Statement

Veronica Weber

neighborhood market in a new building, Garcia said.

“We are in the process of hopefully selling our assets to someone who shares our sense of community and who has the means and knowledge to make your neighborhood store much better. He also has the means to build the new market, and is planning to do so. The potential buyer has a very nice quality store, with a knowledgeable staff, something we think you deserve,” the brothers wrote.

“If you like JJ&F, we think you will love the new store.”

But they had strong words of caution for area residents: “Please understand that they are here for YOU, because we can’t be.

REMEMBER THIS ... In order to have a neighborhood market in

Jeanne McDonnell chats with Dennis Garcia, co-owner of JJ&F Market, while checking out in early January. She and her husband Eugene (center) shopped at the store for 35 years.

YOUR neighborhood, you MUST shop there.

The full letter is online (www. paloaltoonline.com) attached to the

JJ&F story. N Palo Alto Weekly Editor Jay Thorwaldson can be e-mailed at jthorwaldson@paweekly.com.

Red Cross Silicon Valley and liaisons from the City of Palo Alto were also on hand.

“This would never have happened if Sand Hill and the Citizen Corps Council didn’t exist,” she said of the quick, coordinated response.

Weiss said hospital staff members train on a daily basis. And every other month the Sand Hill group meets to strategize, discuss, build relationships or drill, according to Burnes-Line.

Sometimes, they train through county- and state-run exercises. On Thursday, Nov. 18, up to 200 bomb “victims” were to arrive during a twohour simulated improvised-explosivedevice drill put on by the county and state.

Nurses, doctors and other hospital staff set up a “surge plan” for the mass casualties, which trickled in batches into the emergency room. Teams set up triage system to assess severity of injuries; a rapid-discharge plan for less critical patients to make room for the injured; and a plan for the masscasualty influx, she said.

But in a real disaster, knowing just how many people will walk — or be carried — through the door is a guessing game, Weiss said. Tiered surge plans help prepare for any eventuality. Phase I might plan for a 10- to 20-percent patient increase versus a 30- to 40-percent increase, he said.

Hospitals are generally prepared to be self-sufficient for 96 hours, but any hospital must consider the percentage of employees who live out of the area and who must commute across bridges that might be down in a disaster, he said. Any emergency plan must consider not only nurses and doctors, but also ancillary services, such as radiologists, he said.

If handling the sick or injured becomes untenable, Stanford and Lucile Packard are also part of the National Disaster Medical System, which can arrange to transfer victims across state lines, Weiss said.

“During Katrina, since the entire city was decimated, you can’t just transfer to a hospital within Louisiana, especially with patients with specialized needs, such as neonatal patients,” he said.

Hospitals such as Stanford respond by providing information on the number of beds and medical care assets available, such as neonatal surgeons,

and the information is coordinated through the Veterans Administration and the Department of Defense.

The defense department provides air transport, he said.

To that end, Moffett Field is the perfect spot for a regional center because it has aircraft, light- and heavy-rail access, and can provide temporary housing, Jordan said.

The regional center, funded by a combination of government and private grants, will involve every municipality in the Silicon Valley area. It has been in the making for the last four to five years, he said.

The center will offer logistics and support to response teams and emergency personnel and a training center will help emergency medical teams, firefighters, hazardous-materials teams, rescue-operations and trauma teams to help them work together effectively.

Other components include a research center to investigate how best to incorporate and use social media and other modes of communications to reach out to the public. The research is headed by Carnegie Mellon University, which has a Moffett Field campus, as well as a learning center to develop training methods and help businesses and communities recover after a disaster. The operations training could begin in 2011, he said.

No other such center exists west of the Mississippi River, although something similar was created in New York after the 9/11 terrorist attack.

The Silicon Valley project could become a model for the country, wherever a disaster strikes, he added.

Disasters will come, he said. They will come in many forms, from intentional acts of terror to unintentional acts such as the Bhopal, India, chemical disaster of Dec 2-3, 1984, when thousands died and thousands more were left chronically ill.

California has its earthquakes, but there are other natural disasters, such as pandemics and storms, Jordan said.

The fabric of life as it is known in the Bay Area can be blunted by a major regional disaster — but it cannot be destroyed if plans and preparations are in place, he said. N Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be e-mailed at sdremann@paweekly. com.

PALO ALTO EYES OPTOMETRY FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No.: 544367 The following person (persons) is (are) doing business as: Palo Alto Eyes Optometry at 540 University Ave., # 110, Palo Alto, CA 94301, Santa Clara County.

This business is owned by: Husband and Wife.

The name and residence address of the owner(s)/registrant(s) is(are): CINDY S. MATTESON O.D. 31344 Pike Pl Union City, CA 94587 JOSEPH F. MOST O. D. 31344 Pike Pl Union City, CA 94587 Registrant/Owner has not yet begun to transact business under the fictitious business name(s) listed herein.

This statement was filed with the County ClerkRecorder of Santa Clara County on November 5, 2010.

(PAW Nov. 12, 19, 26; Dec. 3, 2010) DAVID FINDLEY COMPANY FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No.: 544285 The following person (persons) is (are) doing business as: David Findley Company at 2560 Wyandotte Street, Suite F, Mountain View, CA 94043, Santa Clara County.

This business is owned by: Husband and Wife.

The name and residence address of the owner(s)/registrant(s) is(are): DAVID G. FINDLEY 752 Chimalus Drive Palo Alto, CA 94306 CATHLEEN D. FINDLEY 752 Chimalus Drive Palo Alto, CA 94306 Registrant/Owner began transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed herein on 10/1/2005.

This statement was filed with the County ClerkRecorder of Santa Clara County on November 3, 2010.

(PAW Nov. 19, 26; Dec. 3, 10, 2010) EALS INK FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No.: 544747 The following person (persons) is (are) doing business as: Eals Ink at 2251 Princeton Street, Palo Alto, CA 94306, Santa Clara County.

This business is owned by: An Individual.

The name and residence address of the owner(s)/registrant(s) is(are): EALISH SOWERBY 2251 Princeton St. Palo Alto, CA 94306 Registrant/Owner has not yet begun to transact business under the fictitious business name(s) listed herein.

This statement was filed with the County ClerkRecorder of Santa Clara County on November 16, 2010.

(PAW Nov. 19, 26; Dec. 3, 10, 2010)

997 All Other Legals SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA In Re DAVIS FAMILY LIVING TRUST dated October 27, 1994 created by Flora Longwell Davis and John Rowden Davis, Decedent.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS Probate Code 19050 CASE No. 110PR167912 Notice is hereby given to the creditors and contingent creditors of the above-named Decedent, that all persons having claims against the Decedent are required to file them with the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara, at 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113, and mail or deliver a copy to Flora Longwell Davis, as Trustee of the Davis Family Living Trust dated October 27, 1994, of which the Decedent was a settlor, c/o Jorgenson, Siegel, McClure & Flegel, LLP, 1100 Alma Street, Suite 210, Menlo Park, CA 94025, within the later of four (4) months after November 12, 2010, or if notice is mailed or personally delivered to you, 60 days after the date this notice is mailed or personally delivered to you, or you must petition to file a late claim as provided in Probate Code 19103. A claim form may be obtained from the Court Clerk. For your protection, you are encouraged to file your claim by certified mail, with return receipt requested.

Dated: October 26, 2010 Jorgenson, Siegel, McClure & Flegel, LLP By : _____________________ Kristina B. Anderson, Attorney for Flora Longwell Davis, Trustee Address: 1100 Alma Street, Suite 210

Menlo Park, CA 94025 (PAW Nov. 12, 19, 26, 2010) AMENDED NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF: JOEL B. GOLDFUS Case No.: 110PR167726 To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of JOEL B. GOLDFUS. A Petition for Probate has been filed by: TROY UNDERWOOD in the Superior Court of California, County of SANTA CLARA. The Petition for Probate requests that: TROY UNDERWOOD be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent.

The petition requests the decedent’s will and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate. The will and any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court.

The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.)

The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority.

A HEARING on the petition will be held on December 2, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. in Dept.: 3 of the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara, located at 191 N. First St., San Jose, CA, 95113.

If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney.

If you are a creditor or a contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within four months from the date of first issuance of letters as provided in Probate Code section 9100. The time for filing claims will not expire before four months from the hearing date noticed above.

You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk.

Attorney for Petitioner: /s/ Kent Mitchell 550 Hamilton Avenue, Suite 230 Palo Alto, CA 94301 (650)327-7476 (PAW Nov. 12, 19, 26, 2010) Loan: n/a Other: File: 3565651 DLH Investor Loan#: A.P. Number 124-07-049 NOTICE OF TRUSTEE'S SALE UNDER DEED OF TRUST YOU ARE IN DEFAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST, DATED 6/8/2009, UNLESS YOU TAKE ACTION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD AT A PUBLIC SALE. IF YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LAWYER. Notice is hereby given that First American Title Company, a California corporation, as Trustee, or Successor Trustee, or Substituted Trustee pursuant to the Deed of Trust executed by Abdus Salam Qureishi, Trustee of The Qureishi 1998 Family Trust Dated December 30, 1998 Recorded on 06/10/2009 as Instrument No. 20287774 in Book n/a Page n/a of Official Records in the Office of the County Recorder of Santa Clara County, California, and pursuant to the Notice Of Default and election to sell thereunder recorded 7/27/2010 in Book n/a, Page n/a, as Instrument No. 20793470 of said Official Records, will sell on 12/3/2010 at the entrance to the Superior Courthouse, 190 N. Market St., San Jose, CA at 10:00AM at public auction to the highest bidder for cash (payable at the time of sale in lawful money of the United States), all right, title and interest conveyed to and now held by it under said Deed of Trust in the property situated in said county and state hereinafter described: As more fully described in said Deed of Trust. The undersigned mortgagee, beneficiary or authorized agent for the mortageee or beneficiary declares that this proerty is not subject to California Civil Code Section 2923.5 The property address and other common designation, if any, of the real property described above is purported to be: 369 Churchill Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301 The undersigned Trustee disclaims any liability for any incorrectness of the property address and other common designation, if any, shown herein. The total amount of the unpaid balance of the obligation secured by the property to be sold and reasonable estimated costs, expenses and advances at the time of the initial publication of the notice of sale is: $539,563.54 In addition to cash, the Trustee will accept a cashier’s check drawn on a State or National Bank, a check drawn by a State or Federal Credit Union or a check drawn by a State or Federal Savings and Loan Association, Savings Association or Savings Bank specified in Section 5102 of the Financial Code and authorized to do business in this state. In the event tender other than cash is accepted the Trustee may withhold the issuance of the trustee’s deed until funds become available to the payee or endorsee as a matter of right. Said sale will be made, but without covenant or warranty, express or implied, regarding title, possession, or encumbrances, to satisfy the indebtedness secured by said deed, advances

*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÈ]ÊÓä£äÊU Page 9

NONPROFIT PROFILE: An Occasional Series Highlighting Local Nonprofit Organizations

St. Elizabeth Seton School Local Funders and Supporters

Development Committee Kay Bates Lorraine Dabney Mark Dellamano Sylvia Jeans Sister Eileen Kenny, D.C. Molly McKenna James McLaughlin Angi Merlone Ann Morrical Eliane Neukermans Mary Ratner Todd Yancey

s More Information Sister Adella Armentrout, D.C., Principal Marcy Black, Development Director

s How You Can Help Contribute towards tuition assistance After-school Homework Club Coaching Join our Development Committee Direct Donations Walk-A-Thon pledges Employer Matching Gifts Stock Gifts Estate Planning Gifts Car Donations Please call Patty Kenney, 650 326-1258, or email development@stelizabethseton.com

T H I S

S PA C E

Photography by Lisa Ratner

Eager to Learn — Ready to Serve he prosperity that benefited Silicon Valley durship with God. Involving parents and extended families ing the dot-com boom largely bypassed East in their children’s education so that together they will Palo Alto, leaving it lacking in public and pribecome contributing citizens of their communities. vate investment in education and struggling with low Equipping students and families with skills necesacademic performance. Ninety-five percent of East Palo sary to excel academically and as a family. Providing Alto students meet low-income guidelines under the a student-centered, culturally sensitive and faith-based federal free and reduced-price lunch program. Seventylearning environment. five percent are English-language learners. High school Our success is reflected in the fact that 100% of drop-out rates are high.

Seton graduates continue on In a world fraught with to high school, and more than demanding challenges, St. 50% of them are accepted Elizabeth Ann Seton School into private high schools in in Palo Alto offers solutions. the Bay Area. We agree with As a Catholic elementary President Obama wholeheartschool, our mission is to serve edly when he spoke these all children and provide a words in his Presidential Adquality education, regardless dress to Congress on Februof a family’s ability to pay. ary 24, 2009: Currently, Seton School is the “… Dropping out of high only Catholic educational alschool is no longer an opternative for East Palo Alto tion. It’s not just quitting on residents and neighboring yourself, it’s quitting on your low-income communities. country – and this country Our unique programs ensure needs and values the talents —President Barack Obama students receive a quality edof every American.” ucation and attention, while Despite these difficult offering activities, student/ economic times, St. Elizabeth family counseling and opporSeton School stays committunities they otherwise might not experience. ted to its goal of supporting children’s academic and We work with a diverse student body of 275 stupersonal growth. Seton School relies on private donadents in kindergarten through eighth grade. Our goal is tions and grants to supplement funding it receives from to impact and improve the current high school drop-out the Daughters of Charity Foundation and the Diocese of rate by preparing our students for their secondary educaSan Jose. tion. We accomplish this by: Together we can create a stronger community and Challenging our students to act responsibly, a better society. Won’t you join us in being part of the achieve academically, and nurture a personal relationsolution?

T

“Dropping out of high school is no longer an option. It’s not just quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country, and this country needs and values the talents of every American.”

D O N AT E D

Page 10ÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÈ]ÊÓä£äÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii Þ

A S

A

C O M M U N I T Y

S E RV I C E

B Y

T H E

PA L O

Anonymous (2) Art In Action Basic Fund Bring Me A Book Foundation Burr Pilger & Mayer Crescent Porter Hale Foundation Dalton Realty Daughters of Charity Foundation Diocese of San Francisco Diocese of San Jose Doheny Foundation Emmett R. Quady Foundation Grace-Rosenberg Family Foundation The Guardsmen Knights of Columbus Lions Club of Palo Alto Lund-Pearson-McLaughlin Fire Protection Systems Thomas Merton Center Mission West Properties Midtown Realty O’Connor Hospital Pacific Specialty Insurance Co. Palo Alto Community Fund Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund Pearce Family Foundation Peninsula Bridge Program Philanthropic Ventures Foundation Porter & Helenmae Thompson Foundation Ropers Majeski Kohn & Bentley Royal Glass Company Seton Medical Center Sorci Family Foundation Sobrato Family Foundation St. Thomas Aquinas Parish St. Veronica Church Stanford University Golf Course Synopsys Foundation The Campbell Fund Trust Funds, Inc. Wilsey Charitable Fund Mabel B. Wright Foundation … and many generous individuals

s Contact Seton Development Office 1095 Channing Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94301 650 326-1258 http://seton.ca.campusgrid.net Sponsored by The Daughters of Charity and the Diocese of San Jose

A LT O

W E E K LY

Upfront

TEDx

(continued from page 3)

urged students to achieve balanced lives by challenging the “narrow notion of success” defined by grades, test scores and college acceptances.

“Four hours of homework and six hours of sleep a night — that’s the story of our lives,” Harris said.

“That’s one of the primary reasons Campanile is so important to us — it’s one of the only opportunities for us in our days to take control of our own education.”

The other four Campanile co-editors helped Harris describe the Campanile’s production cycle.

“Our advisor takes a very hands-off approach,” senior Nadav Gavrielov said.

“She advises and observes, but she puts trust and faith in us the editors, as well as the staff. She knows we can do it.”

Co-editor Rachel Mewes said she was particularly struck by Boles presentation on “un-schooling.”

“Sometimes school can almost get in the way of learning,” she said. “I’ve had times when I really wanted to read this book and I can’t — there’s literally no time. I have to do college applications or AP English homework, and it interferes with what I actually want to be doing.”

The Paly event was organized by the Student Equity Action Network (SEAN), a group seeking to address the well-documented achievement gap between African-American and

Commitment To Excellence

Hispanic students and their Caucasian and Asian peers.

Chief organizer, Paly junior Tremaine Kirkman, said he was not particularly interested when his mother told him a few months ago that TED was licensing youth-organized conferences. But he later became intrigued — and signed up — when one of his Paly teachers showed a TED video in class.

“I thought at first the main challenge would be finding people to speak,” Kirkman said.

“We were shocked by how many people responded and said they wanted to come. I never thought we’d get (actor and director ) LeVar Burton to come, Dorsey Nunn, LaDoris Cordell.

“I didn’t realize how big of a thing TED is.”

Formerly incarcerated felon Dorsey Nunn, after taking the podium, called Kirkman and other conference organizers — mostly African-American students who kept to the sidelines — back into the room.

“You are people of color — come back in here. I came here to speak to the organizers in a real profound way,” said Nunn, who is executive director of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children.

“You should have an opportunity to enjoy this event,” he said, saying the student organizers reminded him of his father.

“My father waited tables at Stanford. He went to Stanford every day, but he didn’t get an education out of the deal.

“I want to talk to you about being

able to pick yourself up when you don’t have cues. As you get older as a black person, the cues get fewer and fewer, more limited. You see more failures than successes, so how do you stay the course?”

Recalling his time as an inmate in San Quentin State Prison, Nunn said, “I came to the conclusion that I was the change I was waiting for because there was no other change.”

Actor-director LeVar Burton, whom many of the students remembered from his roles in “Reading Rainbow” and “Star Trek,” told of being inspired by his mother, who raised him and his sister as a single parent.

“Not only did she read to us, she read in front of us. She was always reading at least one thick novel for her own enjoyment, and we got that allimportant message that reading was like breathing.

“In our mom’s household, you either read a book or were hit over the head with one.”

Palo Alto Unified School District Superintendent Kevin Skelly sat through the entire, five-hour TEDx event.

In introductory remarks to kick off the proceedings, Skelly told the group, “We live in a time when parents hover over their kids. We have a lot of helicopter parents, and the future really lies with our children.

“No offense to the adult speakers, but I’m actually more interested in hearing what the kids have to say.” N Staff Writer Chris Kenrick can be e-mailed at ckenrick@paweekly. com.

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Home Care by Seniors for Seniors

There’s a huge difference in the kind of home care you can receive from someone who really understands what your life is like as a senior. The concerns you have. The need for independence.

Someone who like you, has a little living under his or her belt.

Our loving, caring, compassionate seniors are there to help. We offer all the services you need to stay in your own home, living independently.

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, UCC £ nxÊ Õ ÃÊ, >`]Ê*> Ê Ì ÊUÊ­Èxä®ÊnxÈ ÈÈÈÓÊUÊÜÜÜ°vVV«>° À}Ê -Õ `>ÞÊ7 Àà «Ê> `Ê-Õ `>ÞÊ-V Ê>ÌÊ£ä\ääÊ>° °

This Sunday: The Tender Mercy of God Rev. David Howell preaching An Open and Affirming Congregation of the United Church of Christ

UÊ «> Ê >Ài UÊ ÕÃi ii« }Ê-iÀÛ Vià UÊ i> Ê«Ài«>À>Ì ÉV } UÊ*iÀà > Ê >Ài UÊ"ÛiÀ } ÌÊ> `ÊÓ{ ÕÀÊ >Ài UÊ/À> ë ÀÌ>Ì ÊUÊ- «« } UÊ VÌ ÀÊ «« Ì i ÌÃÊ UÊ9>À`Ê7 À UÊ > `Þ > Ê-iÀÛ ViÃÊ UÊ> `Ê Àit

TICKETS START AT JUST $12!

(Maximum two tickets with valid ID) *FREE tickets to any active military personnel, reservists, or veterans with military identification; and all public safety personnel (Police, Firefighters or Emergency Medical Technicians). This offer is in recognition, appreciation and thanks for the service these individuals perform for their country and communities.

Tickets are redeemable at Stanford Athletic Ticket Office on day of game with valid identification.

650-964-4112 650-391-6275

2011 FOOTBALL SEASON TICKET DEPOSITS NOW ACCEPTED

INSPIRATIONS

A resource for special events and ongoing religious services. To inquire about or make space reservations for Inspirations, please contact Blanca Yoc at 223-6596 or email byoc@paweekly.com www.seniorshelpingseniors.com/ MidPeninsula

Final Home Game Saturday, November 27 – 4:30 PM

FREE TICKETS FOR MILITARY PERSONNEL, VETERANS, AND PUBLIC SAFETY EMPLOYEES*

Call or email today!

tomschwartz@shsmidpeninsula.com

BCS BOWL CONTENDER STANFORD VS. OREGON STATE

A $100 deposit GUARANTEES priority seating for 2011 season tickets and 2010 bowl game!** **Offer applies to new season ticket accounts for 2011 season only.

For details and restrictions visit GOSTANFORD.COM.

TO BUY TICKETS CALL 1-800-STANFORD OR VISIT GOSTANFORD.COM *> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÈ]ÊÓä£äÊU Page 11

Pulse

A weekly compendium of vital statistics

Grief Support for Children and Adults

Palo Alto

Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Child abuse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Domestic violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Nov. 17-23 Violence related

We hope you’ll join us for Kara’s Annual Candlelight Service an interfaith, community gathering of remembrance

Thursday, December 2nd at 7pm Unity Palo Alto Community Church 3391 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto We light candles for Love, Memory, Courage and Hope with music and prose as, together, we remember those we have loved.

Coffee, punch and cookies are served in the Y.E.S. Hall after the service.

It Happened in Palo Alto On August 31, 1965, the Beatles played at San Francisco’s Cow Palace. Attendees who wanted to hear the music found it drowned out by screaming girls, some of who rushed the stage. Folksinger Joan Baez said the event was the most hysterical yet. John Lennon said there were not enough guards and not enough microphones. At concert’s end John, Paul, George, and Ringo were taken by limousine to the Cabana Hotel in Palo Alto. Pre-Silicon Valley Palo Alto was quiet, but, like something out of the Beatles ďŹ rst movie A Hard Day’s Night, about 3,000 mostly female fans were waiting in and around the hotel parking lot. Some tried to scale the hotel’s outer grating, probably to the Beatles eighth-oor suite.

The next morning the Fab Four were due to depart from San Francisco International Airport. Palo Alto Police Chief Hydie, hotel manager Melcher, and hotel press manager Weissman devised a plan to divert some 5,000 fans outside. A decoy of three black sedans drew up at the hotel service entrance. The Beatles rode an elevator to an enclosed ďŹ re escape to a ďŹ rst oor back entrance, where a delivery truck was waiting. John, Paul, and George were hustled in; the truck began moving, and then the driver realized – horror! – Ringo wasn’t aboard. He braked, backed up, picked up the world’s most famous drummer, and drove off. Fans were allowed to buy pieces of the Beatles’ bed sheets. The truck met a limousine, the Beatles were transferred yet again, and were escorted by Palo Alto police and San Mateo County sheriff’s deputies on side roads to San Francisco International, where the Pan Am clipper “Seven Seasâ€? took off for England.

Lana Ralston, RealtorÂŽ 650-776-9226 www.RalstonWorks.com DRE # 01477598

Intero Real Estate Services

Peninsula School

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We believe education can be engaging and joyous. ™ 8ZaZWgVi^c\ Vgih VcY VXVYZb^Xh ™ Ldg`^c\ id\Zi]Zg id Xjai^kViZ Xjg^dh^in VcY ^bV\^cVi^dc ™ Higdc\ Xdbbjc^in Wj^aY^c\ ™ ;dXjh^c\ dc i]Z egdXZhh d[ aZVgc^c\ ™ Adl hijYZci iZVX]Zg gVi^d! hbVaa XaVhh h^oZ

32nd ANNUAL 2011 TALL TREE AWARDS Call for Nominations The Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce and the Palo Alto Weekly are proud to announce the 32nd Annual Tall Tree awards, presented in four categories, recognizing exceptional civic contributions and service to the Palo Alto community. Current elected ofďŹ cials are not eligible.

Open House — Nursery, Kindergarten, First Grade Saturday, November 6, 10-11:30 a.m. Children welcome.

School Tours Oct. 14, Nov. 4, Jan. 6 & 13 beginning at 10:00 a.m.

Dec. 2 & 9 beginning at 9:00 a.m. Parents only please. registration not required

For an appointment, please call (650) 325-1584, ext. 5.

Photo: Marc Silber

920 Peninsula Way, Menlo Park, CA | 650.325.1584 | www.peninsulaschool.org

s /UTSTANDING #ITIZEN 6OLUNTEER s /UTSTANDING 0ROFESSIONAL s /UTSTANDING "USINESS s /UTSTANDING .ON 0ROlT .OMINATION FORMS ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT WWW PALOALTOCHAMBER COM OR AT THE 0ALO !LTO #HAMBER OF #OMMERCE AT (AMILTON !VENUE 0ALO !LTO

Nomination deadline January 7, 2011 at 5pm

920 Peninsula Way, Menlo Park, CA | 650.325.1584 | www.peninsulaschool.org

Page 12ĂŠUĂŠ ÂœĂ›i“LiĂ€ĂŠĂ“Ăˆ]ÊÓä£äÊUĂŠ*>Â?ÂœĂŠ Â?ĂŒÂœĂŠ7iiÂŽÂ?Ăž

Strong-arm robbery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Theft related Embezzlement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Identity theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Vehicle related Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Misc. traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Suspended license . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . .4 Vehicle accident/property damage. . . . .7 Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Alcohol or drug related Drunk in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Drunken driving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Possession of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Miscellaneous Elder abuse/financial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Lost property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Missing person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Other/misc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Psychiatric hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Restraining order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . .1 Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Warrant/other agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Menlo Park Nov. 17-22 Theft related Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Vehicle related Auto theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Driving without license . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Suspended license . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . .2 Vehicle accident/property damage. . . . .1 Alcohol or drug related Drunken driving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Possession of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Miscellaneous Canceled case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Gang info. case. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Gang validations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Info. case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Located missing person . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Lost property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Missing person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Outside assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Probation arrest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Psychiatric hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Threats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Violation court order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Warrant arrest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Atherton Nov. 17-21 Theft related Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Vehicle related Parking/driving violation . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Suspicious vehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Vehicle accident/property damage. . . . .2 Vehicle code violation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Alcohol or drug related Drunken driving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Miscellaneous Animal call. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Citizen assist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Civil matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Disturbance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Dumping complaint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Fire call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Foot patrol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Hazard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Juvenile problem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Medical aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Meet citizen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Outside assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Perimeter check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . .1 Suspicious person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Tree down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Violation of court order . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Wires down. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

VIOLENT CRIMES Palo Alto 1000 block East Meadow Circle, 11/18, 3:22 p.m.; battery/simple.

Newell Road, 11/18, 4:40 p.m.; child abuse/ neglect.

300 block Pasteur Drive, 11/18, 11:30 a.m.; battery/sexual.

100 block El Camino Real, 11/21, 9:46 p.m.; robbery/strong arm.

El Camino Real, 11/21, 4:32 a.m.; domestic violence/battery.

Deodar Street, 11/22, 5:26 p.m.; domestic violence/violate court order.

3900 block Fabian Way, 11/22, 10:29 a.m.; battery/simple.

Transitions Deaths

William Biggerstaff William E. (“Bill�) Biggerstaff, 91, whose career included senior positions with Ford and Wells Fargo Bank, culminating in 1983 as a co-founder of Silicon Valley Bank, died Nov. 15 in Portola Valley.

He was born in Berkeley, Calif.

An avid sportsman, he lettered in basketball while studying at the University of California, Berkeley.

Upon graduating in 1940, he entered the U.S. Navy and commanded a destroyer escort in the South Pacific during World War II. After the war, he attended Harvard Business School and graduated in 1947 with a master’s degree in business administration.

He returned to the Bay Area and worked first in auto sales and later for Mechanic’s Bank in Richmond.

It was at this time that he met and courted Shirley Gibson of Piedmont, Calif. The couple married in 1951.

Two years later, he joined the international division of Ford Motor Company. His sales and marketing positions took him and his family to New York City, Dearborn, Mich., and Brussels, where he was responsible for opening new markets for Ford in Europe.

The family later relocated to Atherton, Calif. He joined Wells

Fargo Bank in San Francisco.

In the late 1970s he conceived the idea of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) with his friend, Stanford professor and entrepreneur Robert Madearis.

They recognized the need for investment banking to small to mediumsize technology firms. In October, 1983, he and Madearis, along with then-CEO Roger Smith, opened the bank’s first office in San Jose.

Today, SVB Financial Group has 26 offices in the U.S., and subsidiaries in the U.K., Israel, India and China. An annual employee award is named in his honor.

He was active for several years at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, serving as a deacon and in the church’s ministry with the incarcerated.

He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Shirley; children Barry Biggerstaff of Carbondale, Ill., Beth Andersen of Rocklin, Calif., Jan Owen of Seattle, and Brandon Biggerstaff of Emeryville, Calif.; and seven grandchildren.

Donations may be made to Pathways Hospice, 585 North Mary Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94085.

Raymond Rooney Raymond Irving Rooney, 95, a longtime resident of Palo Alto, died Nov. 22.

He grew up on a ranch in Los

Answers to this week’s puzzles, which can be found on page 45

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Banos, Calif. and moved to the Bay Area at age 21. He resided in the Baron Park neighborhood of Palo Alto for 54 years.

He married his sweetheart, Marianne Menter, in 1939 and enjoyed 64 years of marriage before she preceded him in death in 2003.

He was the 31st employee of Hewlett Packard and worked there for 35 years as a production supervisor and later personnel manager. As he retired in 1977, he was elected the first President of the HP Retirement Club, and served there many years as the editor of their newsletter.

He was talented at writing, singing and playing the harmonica, and all will remember him by his quick wit and sense of humor, loved ones said.

He spent many hours recounting humorous yet true stories of his life to family and friends, and even recorded his life story along with his best friend and brother, Bud, in a book called “Of Days Gone By.�

Along with hunting and fishing, he received much pleasure in the companionship of many special pets, especially his dog. He enjoyed playing softball, camping, taking trips with family and friends and going to Tahoe. He considered his trip to Ireland a highpoint due to his Irish heritage and his father’s influence.

This year marked his 62 year

membership with the Palo Alto Elks Club. He and his family spent many years participating in Elks activities.

He is survived by his daughters, Carol Wermuth of Kernville, Calif., Maureen Davis of Santa Clara, and Kathy Peterson of Auburn, Calif.; seven grandchildren; 12 greatgrandchildren; and two great-greatgrandchildren.

A memorial service will be held on Monday, Nov. 29, at 12:30 p.m. at Whitehurst Chapel in Los Banos, CA. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his memory to the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital online at www.supportlpch.org or by check payable to Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health, 400 Hamilton Ave. Suite 340, Palo Alto, CA 94301.

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Helen Almos Biorn, 96, died early Sunday morning November 14, 2010. Helen, christened Helen Arlene, was born on July 23, 1914 in Ambrose, North Dakota to Andrew Almos and Helga Tompte Almos, and became an almost instant celebrity as one of the 13 Ambrose (population 320) babies born that year. Her father Andrew, born in Norway, and her mother Helga, a Minnesota girl also of Norwegian descent, met in Ambrose on the North Dakota plain, he as the new town’s lumberyard entrepreneur, his young bride-to-be a homesteader. Even though Helen had lived in California for over sixty years, her heart belonged to North Dakota and her pioneer and Norwegian heritage. In 2006, at the age of 92, she and 18 members of her family traveled to her hometown for Ambrose’s centennial. Once again she was a celebrity and the 1914 baby boom photo once again graced the front page of the local newspaper, The Journal, along with a story of Helen and her entourage.

Helen and her husband were introduced by a mutual friend when they were both attending the University of Minnesota, she as a nursing student, he as pre-med. Her husband Carl, knowing a good thing when he saw it, proposed to her on

their second date. Happily she accepted and they were together for nearly 70 years until his death in 2005. Helen received her Nursing degree from the University of Minnesota and worked as a nurse until her marriage in 1938. Carl joined the Palo Alto Medical Clinic in 1949, and the Biorns settled in Palo Alto where Helen made a home for her husband and four children.

Helen was a charter member of Grace Lutheran Church, the Sigrid Undset Lodge #32 Daughters of Norway, and the Stanford University Medical Center Auxiliary. Besides her many volunteer activities, she especially enjoyed ballroom and square dancing, bridge, swimming, hiking, traveling, baking and needlework.

Helen is survived by her children Robert (Bonnie) Biorn of Palo Alto, Tina Biorn (Mark Basgall) of Sacramento, and Cathy (Brian) Gallagher of San Diego, six grandchildren and ďŹ ve great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband Carl and daughter and son–in-law, Barbara and Buddy Murfey, of La Jolla, California.

In lieu of owers, Helen prefers that gifts in her memory be sent to Grace Lutheran Church or the Palo Alto Medical Foundation.

All who were touched by Helen’s graciousness and smile are warmly invited to a service in celebration of her life, to be held at 2:00 p.m., Sunday, December 12 at Grace Lutheran Church, Palo Alto.

PA I D

OBITUARY

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Editorial

At last, meaningful emergency planning After years of sporadic talk and neighborhood push, multiple agencies are collaborating to prepare for a major disaster, epidemic or emergency

A

S DETAILED IN THIS ISSUE OF THE 7EEKLY AFTER YEARS OF TALK OFFICIALS at various levels of government are finally getting serious about planning for future emergencies, natural or man-made.

The multiple levels of entities involved is a bit mind-boggling, particularly with the plethora of names for each level and ASSIGNED TASK 7E QUESTION WHETHER EVEN THOSE INTIMATELY involved could draw a meaningful organizational chart, much less outline the interrelationships on a wallet-sized card.

But the overall message is clear: The combination of 9/11 in 2001 and the New Orleans catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 has mobilized Americans at both national and local levels. The gripping tragedies made us all realize the glaring inadequacies in our ability to respond to major emergencies.

In Palo Alto, leaders of neighborhood organizations have pushed for better preparedness and communications for years, particularly through the Palo Alto Neighborhoods organization and in the Midtown area. Former Mayor Judy Kleinberg made preparedness a city priority in her 2006 term, helping lay local groundwork that is now incorporated into the regional effort.

4HE 7EEKLY ALSO HAS PUSHED FOR BETTER AND FASTER PUBLIC communications in emergencies, after several incidents in which manhunts or potentially dangerous situations went unreported by officials for many hours.

7E HAVE SOME CONCERNS ABOUT THE NEW INITIATIVES /NE IS THAT the sheer number of entities could become so top-heavy and confusing that it becomes impossible to sustain as an effective collaboration. Streamlining might help.

Another concern is that we have not yet seen a priority commitment to informing the public quickly in terms of creating an integrated system that works. There have been heroic efforts by some individuals to get the word out about specific situations, but we have yet to see a system that supports such efforts.

Consider the current effort a substantive start to a vitally important work in progress.

JJ&F: A sad farewell and two object lessons

T

he impending closure of the JJ&F Food Store in central Palo Alto’s College Terrace/California Avenue area marks a sad departure of a multi-generational family-owned market.

Many neighbors treasured the modest-sized market that emphasized personal service for its customers, often known by first names. “Save JJ&F� became a rallying cry for a large redevelopment of the block where JJ&F was a fixture for six decades.

But competition from larger markets, an economic slump, competitive buying power of large chains and other factors were cited by JJ&F owners in a farewell letter this week. Even a rent subsidy for 30 years apparently was not enough to make the market feasible in today’s environment.

Fortunately, Palo Alto city officials in 2008 were far-sighted enough to require the developer of the College Terrace Centre to make the rent subsidy available to any grocery store that would occupy space in the new mixed-use development.

JJ&F owners said the store will be bought by Emerald Market, a grocer based in Redwood City. They note that the buyer has a neighborhood-service emphasis.

There are two take-home object lessons here: The first is that no development should be keyed to the future of a single business, such as the rallying of support for JJ&F when the office-heavy development was being considered.

The second is that if residents want to have landmark locally owned businesses such as JJ&F, local pharmacies, bookstores (such as Kepler’s in Menlo Park and Bell’s in Palo Alto), artsupply businesses and restaurants they need to make personal choices that support such businesses. Otherwise, chain stores and the Internet (with no local sales-tax revenue) will displace them.

4HAT IS ONE REASON THE 7EEKLY HAS LAUNCHED AN INTERACTIVE business directory (www.ShopPaloAlto.com): to help residents find and support local businesses. It is designed to boost awareness of products and services of local merchants and highlight their importance to our communities. Check it out this holiday season.

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Spectrum Editorials, letters and opinions

Bullying broadcast Editor, Bullying is a complex issue that deserves our community’s attention. Luckily, Adolescent Counseling Services is hosting a televised discussion to be broadcast live from the Media Center on Tuesday, Nov. 30, at 9 p.m. on the subject.

I urge parents, teachers, administrators and community members to watch the program where I hope these questions will be addressed: s 7HAT ARE THE MOST EFFECTIVE school-based programs to prevent bullying? s $O YOU HAVE TIPS FOR HELPING parents, who often don’t know if their child is engaging in bullying behavior or a victim of it, explore the issue with their children? s 7HAT CAN BE DONE TO COMBAT the rise of cyber-bullying in this electronic age when many (most, I suspect) teenagers conceal their online activities from parents and other adults? s "ULLYING AS VICTIM OR PERPEtrator, is just one negative symptom of a child’s social-emotional condition; should school districts consider adopting district-wide social-emotional health-education programs with articulated K-12 curriculum? s 3CHOOL DISTRICTS HAVE BEEN PERceived as being too punitive while, at the same time they have been criticized for turning a blind eye to BULLYING 7HAT IS YOUR PERCEPTION of how school administrators deal WITH BULLYING $O YOU HAVE SUGgestions for dealing with student conduct issues?

7E ALL CAN BE PART OF THE PROBlem or part of the solution. You can choose a positive course by thinking about your own questions about bullying, considering what steps you can take, and standing up for children’s social-emotional health.

By working together we can create a bully-free community.

Our children deserve nothing less.

Barbara Spreng %DGEWOOD $RIVE Palo Alto

Print vs. e-books Editor, In the Nov. 19 issue regarding print vs. digital books, Palo Alto Councilman Greg Scharff states that print books are “too heavy� and will become “anachronistic.�

He reminds me of the philosopher Schopenhauer, who wrote, h7HEN A HEAD AND A BOOK COME into collision and one sounds hollow, is it always the book?�

The future may well see only e-books read by persons sitting on their spreading behinds while Kepler’s, Bell’s Books and Borders wither and die.

Then new thinkers like Scharff will want to shutter the dusty Louvre, Metropolitan and British museums and reduce civilization’s greatest art, sculpture and architecture for lazy viewing on Kindles. Saves tramping through the Museum of Modern Art, the 0RADO AND $E9OUNG But what a pity future generations will miss the exquisite pleasure of curling up in a cozy corner on a rainy night with a gripping, real book.

Maybe the councilman should try light fiction.

Vic Befera High Street Palo Alto

Cal Ave project Editor, Thank you for covering the so called “traffic calming� project on California Avenue.

The article mentioned that the Cal. Ave. businesses are against narrowing the street. You neglected to mention Cal. Ave. neighbors are also against the proposed narrowing.

They’ve expressed this vocif-

erously at community meetings.

At the two meetings I attended I don’t recall a single voice saying it was a good idea. Rather, everyone expressed the desire to keep the street at four lanes and the parking as is.

Some people also said we don’t need to beautify our street, we like it the way it is. I’m certainly in THIS CAMP KEEP IT FOUR LANES 7E don’t need “calming� and we don’t need beautification.

As I listened at the community meetings, I heard great enthusiasm from Jaime Rodriguez, our new chief transportation officer, for getting $1 million from VTA for this project. It seemed to me that he wants to make his mark, more than he wants to serve our community.

Let’s not let VTA grant money and an ambitious new transportation chief dictate our projects.

Listen to the people. Businesses and neighbors don’t want to narROW #ALIFORNIA !VENUE 7E D JUST like to get the street resurfaced and striped.

Shannon McEntee Sheridan Avenue Palo Alto

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

What do you think? 7HAT ARE YOU MOST THANKFUL FOR THIS Thanksgiving?

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

Include your name, address and daytime phone number so we can reach you.

We reserve the right to edit contributions for length, objectionable content, libel and factual errors known to us. Anonymous letters will generally not be accepted.

You can also participate in our popular interactive online forum, Town Square, at our community website at www.PaloAltoOnline.com. Read blogs, discuss issues, ask questions or express opinions with you neighbors any time, day or night.

Submitting a letter to the editor or guest opinion constitutes a granting of permission to the Palo Alto Weekly and Embarcadero Publishing Co. to also publish it online, including in our online archives and as a post on Town Square.

For more information contact Editor Jay Thorwaldson or Online Editor Tyler Hanley 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!

Board of Contributors: Solving a problem of giving, receiving ... and giving back?

by Elizabeth Lee oliday shopping can be stressful for anyone, but it can be especially challenging when different cultures and traditions are involved.

I hated giving my late father-in-law, Joe, gifts — or rather I hated shopping for such gifts, until my husband and I discovered a creative approach.

When my husband, Scott, and I were engaged, Joe and my late mother-in-law, Lilly, showed me their boxes of loose family pictures. That Christmas, wanting to please my new in-laws, I gave them a photo album.

Joe gave it back. “I don’t need this,” he said, scowling. “You take it back.”

I was horrified. What a lack of manners, I thought. I was raised to believe that “It’s the thought that counts,” and to accept all gifts with appreciation.

In Joe’s culture, I later learned, that’s not the custom. My in-laws came from China, where the etiquette of gift giving is different than in our Palo Alto pocket of Middle America.

Scott, who grew up straddling two different cultures, was mystified by his dad’s behavior.

In one culture was the bubble in which Scott was raised, with his parents’ old-world thinking. In the other was the dominant American culture that also exerted a strong influence.

The result was often a man and his parents who had difficulty understanding each other.

To try to bridge that gap at Christmas, Scott and I looked up online the Chinese etiquette of gift giving. A person receiving a gift, one

H

article said, should humbly express doubt to the giver that they had much use for the gift so as not to appear greedy.

Joe’s habit of giving gifts back was, apparently, his own touch.

On Joe’s next birthday he gave Scott back an electric toothbrush. His low-tech one worked just fine. On Christmas, it was a box of chocolates. “These aren’t good for me,” Joe said.

“Doesn’t it bother you when he does that?”

I asked Scott.

“No, that’s just the way he is,” he said. I, however, dreaded gift shopping for Joe. Try as we could, he rarely wanted anything we gave him.

We didn’t like many of Joe’s gifts either.

One Christmas he gave Scott a pair of plastic hands to hold our TV and stereo remote controls in. They were supposed to sit on top of our TV. Another time Joe gave Scott hangers with foldout brushes attached. To this day we have never figured out what the brushes were supposed to brush.

The next Christmas Scott unwrapped a fourpack of Budweiser that only had two packs in it. Joe must have enjoyed the other two.

I opened a package of mini apple pies that didn’t look much healthier than the box of chocolates. As always, we thanked him, and never once did we give Scott’s parents back a gift.

Then Joe opened my gift. It was something I was convinced he needed: a bag of groceries.

As we watched Joe peer inside the brown paper bag, I waited in anxiety. Without a word, he pulled each item out one by one. Putting aside the chow mein noodles, oolong tea, soy sauce, almond tea cookies and half the vegetables, he loaded the cornstarch and other vegetables back in the bag and handed it to

“Scott can’t return it to the store,” Lilly said, her voice rising in volume and pitch.

“It’s in Norway!”

me. “Why you give me all those vegetables?” he asked in his gravelly Toi San accent. “I can’t eat them all; they will spoil!”

Lilly never gave back gifts, but when she gave them to me she always told me to give them back if I didn’t like them. Of course I never did.

One year Lilly decided Joe had gone too far.

We took a trip to Norway where Scott got Joe a Dale of Norway sweater.

“Why are you getting him a sweater?” I asked. “He’ll just give it back. You won’t be able to return it.”

“That’s OK. I think Dad will like this. Do you think I should get him a size small or medium?” Joe usually wore a small, Scott added.

“Better get a medium. That way if he gives it back you can wear it.”

Scott got the medium.

“I can’t wear this,” his dad said when he pulled it out of its bag. “It’s a size medium.

You know I wear a small. You take it back.”

I rolled my eyes. It was my idea to get the size medium. Now it was my fault he didn’t want it.

“Scott can’t return it to the store,” Lilly said, her voice rising in volume and pitch. “It’s in Norway!”

“You send it back to the store,” Joe said, holding it out toward Scott.

After a verbal scuffle, Lilly stood up and faced him. “He can’t return it to Norway. Scott bought you a special Norwegian sweater, and you are so rude you won’t accept it. Now you take that sweater and thank him for it right now.”

“I have to agree with Lilly,” I said, emboldened by her momentous stance. Joe pulled the hand holding the sweater back, looking down in defeat.

“Say thank you,” Lilly said.

“Thank you,” he mumbled. It was one of the few times I’d ever heard him say those words.

After that we began to get creative, which helped immensely in reducing anxiety — to the point where I enjoyed “shopping for Joe” from then on.

Perhaps other holiday shoppers can benefit from our discovery: Scott and I decided that the thing to do wasn’t to get Joe something we thought he wanted. It was to get him something we wanted. I happily took back a set of ceramic plates with a beautiful plum-blossom design when Joe complained they were too heavy.

The next Christmas I discovered a large box of chocolates Scott had chosen for his dad.

“But Scott,” I protested, “you can’t give him those. Remember last time? He’ll just give them back.” Scott looked me in the eye as he nodded his head, a goofy, devious grin slowly spreading across his face.

“I know,” he said. N Elizabeth Lee is a licensed marriage and family therapist and writer who lives in Palo Alto with her husband and two children. She can be e-mailed at liz@funghi.com.

Streetwise

How do you feel about Palo Alto’s longtime neighborhood market JJ&F going out of business?

Asked at JJ&F on College Avenue. Interviews and photos by Sally Schilling.

Pablo Fernandez

Student Olmsted Road, Palo Alto “It’s really bad because I live two blocks away. It’s not cheap, but it’s convenient.”

Stephen Peeps

Consultant Harvard Street, Palo Alto “I think it’s a genuine tragedy.”

Logan Green

CEO of startup Zimride Stanford “Not good, I come here for lunch all the time because they have great sandwiches.”

Ann Davidson

Retired Speech Therapist Stanford “I think I am going to cry. They have been a gift to the community and not just because they are a market, but because there’s been a love relationship with the community.”

Bill Benz

Lawyer Webster Street, Palo Alto “I’m sad it’s going out of business, I’ve shopped here a long time.”

*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÈ]ÊÓä£äÊU Page 15

❉

❉❉

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

❉

The men’s a cappella chorus Chanticleer performs a holiday concert on Dec. 9 in Stanford University’s Memorial Church.

❉

by Rebecca Wallace oliday music is far more than just jingle bells these days on the Midpeninsula.

Seasonal sounds around here include gospel, klezmer, sacred music, dance music, Gaelic songs and Gregorian chant, for starters. Audiences will hear voices and strings, bells and harps, and a few period instruments from centuries past.

Other kinds of arts groups take part in the December spirit, too.

There are several “Nutcracker” ballets, of course, and special events at theaters, museums, bookstores and art galleries. Below is an assortment of some of the many local festivities.

H

❉

Lisa Kohler

The early-music wind ensemble The Whole Noyse joins the California Bach Society for a Nativity-themed concert in Palo Alto on Dec. 4.

The young singers of the Ragazzi Boys Chorus will celebrate the season with a holiday concert on Dec. 4 in Palo Alto’s First Congregational Church.

❉

Making merry with the

arts

Seasonal concerts, ballets, plays and other creative endeavors abound on the Midpeninsula

cert “Weihnachtshistorie (Story of the Nativity)” at 8 p.m. Dec. 4. The program features 17th-century German music and is at All Saints’ Episcopal Church, 555 Waverley St., Palo Alto. Tickets are $30, with discounts for seniors and students, and for advance purchases. Go to calbach.org or call 415-262-0272.

❉

The Stanford Chamber Chorale and the Stanford Symphony Orchestra perform their yearly Holiday Musicale presented by the Friends of Music at Stanford. The concert is at 2:30 p.m. Dec. 4 in the university’s Memorial Church. Tickets are $10 general, $9 for seniors and $5 for students. Go to music.stanford.edu or call 650-725-ARTS.

Music

The Menlo Park Chorus calls its free family concert “Twisted Christmas.” The show, which comes with seasonal refreshments, is at the Menlo Park Library at 800 Alma St. from 11 a.m. to noon on Dec. 4. Call 650-330-2512 or go to menloparklibrary.org.

Cantor Lauren Bandman leads a program of songs to mark the first night of Hanukkah and World AIDS Day in “Don’t Let the Light Go Out.” The event also includes a presentation by author Ruthann Richter and photographer Karen Ande, who created the book “Face to Face: Children of the AIDS Crisis in Africa.”

The free event is at 7 p.m. Dec. 1 at Congregation Beth Am, 26790 Arastradero Road, Los Altos Hills. Call 650-493-4661 or go to betham.org.

“Silent Night, Noisy Night” is the theme of the San Francisco Choral Artists’ holiday concert with the Alexander String Quartet. Music from Latvia, England and Brazil will be included. Tickets are $10-$30, and the concert is at 8 p.m. Dec. 4 at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 600 Colorado Ave., Palo Alto. Go to sfca.org.

Dance music is the main attraction at the Tribal Blues Band Hanukkah Party, planned from 9 to 11:30 p.m. on Dec. 2 at the British Bankers’ Club, 1090 El Camino Real, Menlo Park. Besides the band’s performance, cantor Doron Shapira will make a guest appearance. There is no cover charge. Call 650-327-8769 or go to britishbankersclub.com.

The choral group Soli Deo Gloria performs a “Christmas Bells” concert with handbells at 5 p.m. Dec. 4 at First Lutheran Church, Homer Avenue and Webster Street, Palo Alto.

Included is “Verbum Dei,” a new piece by artistic director Allen Simon. Admission is $25 general and $20 for students and seniors. Go to sdgloria.org.

Palo Alto cornetto player Stephen Escher and his early-music wind ensemble The Whole Noyse join the California Bach Society for the con-

Joyce Goldschmid

Conducted by Robert Huw Morgan, Stanford University’s Memorial Church Choir sings its annual Service of Lessons & Carols at 8 p.m.

Dec. 3 and 4 in the church. Admission is free for the seasonal program, which features Bach’s Cantata 140.

Go to music.stanford.edu.

Derek McCaw and Kevin Hull play a townful of quirky characters in Bus Barn Stage Company’s “A Tuna Christmas.”

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The Mid-Peninsula Recorder Orchestra joins the CSU East Bay Singers for a free holiday concert at 2 p.m. Dec. 4 at Grace Lutheran Church, 3149 Waverley St., Palo Alto. Telemann, Haydn and Legrenzi will be among the composers represented. Call 650-591-3648 or go to

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

Bring in this ad and get a free balloon!

Biodegradable Helium Balloons, Party Decor, Home Decor, Party Planning, and Gift Baskets

Tracy Martin

Town and Country Village, Suite 102, Palo Alto acmepartybox.com 650.618.4682.

Penny Fuller plays Sook and Gabriel Hoffman is young Buddy in TheatreWorks’ production of “A Christmas Memory,� a new musical based on a Truman Capote story. sfems.org/mpro.

men’s a cappella choral group. The program includes carols, gospel and chant. Admission is $52 general and $10 for Stanford students, with other discounts available for groups, youth and other students. Go to livelyarts. org or call 650-725-ARTS.

The Harpeggio Music ensemble performs its “Harps for the Holidays� concert of classical and seasonal music at 4 p.m. Dec. 4, at Los Altos United Methodist Church, 655 Magdalena Ave., Los Altos. Tickets are $15 general and $12 for seniors and children ages 4 to 12. Go to harpeggio.com or call 408-366-8810.

The Peninsula Women’s Chorus presents three holiday concerts with a program including the premiere of Judith Shatin’s “The Jumblies� — a setting of the Edward Lear poem.

Performances are at 4 p.m. Dec. 4 at St. Patrick’s Seminary, 320 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park; and at 4 p.m. Dec. 5 and 2:30 p.m. Dec. 11 at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 600 Colorado Ave., Palo Alto. Tickets are $20 general and $10 for students; call 1-800-838-3006 or go to pwchorus.org. “Ring Out, Bells!� is the name of the Ragazzi Boys Chorus holiday performance at 5 p.m. Dec. 4 at the First Congregational Church at 1985 Louis Road in Palo Alto. The singers will join the Sonos Handbell Ensemble in concert. Tickets are $25 reserved, $15 general, $12 seniors and $10 students. Call 650-342-8785 or go to ragazzi.org.

The new 16-voice chorus P-S-F-S (Prince/SF Singers) presents a holiday concert featuring sacred and seasonal choral arrangements by Peninsula composer Ken Malucelli.

The group performs at 4:15 p.m.

Dec. 5 at The Sequoias, 501 Portola Road, Portola Valley. Admission is by requested donation. Go to kenmalucelli.com.

Liana Clark plays the title role in Peninsula Youth Theatre’s “The Match Girl’s Gift,� a stage adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen holiday tale.

Palo Alto, 1985 Louis Road. Assistant conductor and accompanist Dawn Reyen leads. Admission is $15 general, $10 for seniors and $7 for students. Go to scholacantorum.org or call 650-254-1700.

The choral group Schola Seraphica will perform “Gloria in excelsis Deo,� a program of sacred holiday music including such composers as Charpentier, Schubert and Dvorak.

The concert will be at 2:30 p.m.

Dec. 5 in St. Patrick’s Seminary, 320 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park.

Admission is $20 general and $15 for seniors and students. Call 650387-3141.

Stanford pipe organist Robert Huw Morgan plays an annual seasonal recital for Advent at the university’s Memorial Church. The free performance is at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 5. Go to music.stanford.edu.

Antique meets modern as the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra performs Handel’s “Messiah� on period instruments and with today’s voices in the performing-arts center at Menlo-Atherton High School, 555 Middlefield Road, Atherton. The concert is at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7; tickets are $35-$95, with $10 student rush tickets. Call 415-252-1288 or go to philharmonia.org.

Schola Cantorum hosts a Christmas Carol Sing at 2 p.m. Dec. 5 in the First Congregational Church of

At 8 p.m. Dec. 10, Stanford University’s Memorial Church hosts its annual visit from the Chanticleer

People who aren’t content just to listen to Handel’s “Messiah� attend the “Messiah� Sing-Along at Stanford’s Memorial Church, bringing instruments and voices. This year’s event is at 8 p.m. Dec. 10, with orchestral parts provided and choral scores available for purchase. Stephen M. Sano conducts. Admission is $10 general, $9 for seniors and $5 for students. Go to music.stanford. edu or call 650-725-ARTS. Viva la Musica! performs a holiday choral/orchestral concert, “Classical, Carols and Klezmer,� at 8 p.m. Dec. 11 at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 600 Colorado Ave., Palo Alto. Tickets are $25 “preferred,� $22 general, $20 for seniors and $15 for students. Call 650-281-9663 or go to vivalamusica.org. “Welcome, Yule!� is the theme of Schola Cantorum’s 4 p.m. Dec. 12 concert in Palo Alto, with a program including Frank Ferko’s “Festival of Carols.� The performance is at the First Congregational Church at 1985 Louis Road; tickets are $24 general, $20 for seniors and $12 for students.

Go to scholacantorum.org or call 650-254-1700.

Medieval carols, seasonal motets and more modern songs abound when the Bay Choral Guild presents “Christmas: Then and Now� at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 12, in St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 600 Colorado Ave., Palo Alto. Tickets are $25 general, $20 for seniors and $6 for students. Go to baychoralguild.org.

Seasonal songs keep company with Michael Daugherty’s “Raise the Roof� timpani concerto at the California Youth Symphony’s free holiday concert. The performance (continued on next page)

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

IS THE EFFORT WORTH IT?

Arts

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IT ALL DEPENDS ON YOUR POINT OF VIEW

is at 2:30 p.m. Dec. 12 in Smithwick Theatre at Foothill College, 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills. Go to cys.org.

There’s another Messiah Sing planned locally: Schola Cantorum’s annual event is at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts at 500 Castro St., at 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 13. Tickets are $18 general, $14 for seniors and students, and $12 for children. Go to scholacantorum.org or call 650-903-6000.

The Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir comes to the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts at 500 Castro St. to present a holiday concert. Admission to the 7:30 p.m. show on Dec. 17 is $36 general, $31 for seniors and students and $28 for children. Go to mvcpa.com or call 650-903-6000.

171 University Ave I Palo Alto, CA I 650.328.7411 www.paloaltobicycles.com I M-F 10-7; Sat 10-6; Sun 11-5

Mary McLaughlin sings songs from the tradition of her native Ireland, with harpist Steve Coulter, in the program “A Gaelic Christmas” at the Woodside Library, 3140 Woodside Road. The free performance is at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 23. Call 650851-0147 or go to marymclaughlin. com.

Dance For the 20th year, Pacific Ballet of Mountain View dances “The Nutcracker,” performing at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts at 500 Castro St. Performances are Nov. 26 through Nov. 28: Friday and Saturday at 1 and 6 p.m., and Sunday at 12:30 and 4 p.m. Admission is $22/$27. Go to mvcpa.com or call 650-903-6000.

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Western Ballet’s “Nutcracker” is in its 35th production. Show times are Dec. 3 at 7 p.m., Dec. 4 at 1 and 7 p.m., and Dec. 5 at 1 and 6:30 p.m., at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts at 500 Castro St. Tickets are $29 general, $26 for seniors, $25 for students and $24 for children. Go to mvcpa.com or call 650-903-6000.

Smuin Ballet’s “Christmas Ballet” starts with a white-costumed first act with traditional music, then turns more modern. Performances are at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts at 500 Castro St., Dec. 8 through Dec. 12: Wednesday through Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. Admission is $62/$59/$49 for adults and $20 for students. Go to smuinballet.org or call 650-9036000.

Mountain View’s Bayer Ballet Company presents “A Winter Fairy Tale,” a seasonal youth ballet in the Russian style, at 5 p.m. Dec. 18 and 2 p.m. Dec. 19. Performances are at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St. Tickets: $30 general, $25 seniors and kids. Go to mvcpa.com or call 650-903-6000.

Theater Two actors play 22 small-town Texas denizens in the holiday com-

palo alto’s gourmet micro creamery

H A P P Y H O L I D AY S edy “A Tuna Christmas,” now at the Bus Barn Theatre at 97 Hillview Ave. in Los Altos. The plot includes a Christmas Phantom, the censorship of “Silent Night” and a holiday play in peril. Show times are Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m., Wednesdays (Dec. 1, 8 and 15) at 7:30 p.m., and Sundays (Nov. 28, Dec. 5 and Dec. 12) at 3 p.m. Tickets are $24$32. Go to busbarn.org or call 650941-0551.

The musical “A Christmas Memory” has its world premiere next month, presented by TheatreWorks from Dec. 4 through Dec. 26 (after Dec. 1-3 previews) at the Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. The show is based on a nostalgic Truman Capote story about a boy’s friendship with an elderly cousin. Tickets are $19-$67. Go to theatreworks.org or call 650-4631960.

Arts & crafts and exhibits The holiday show at Gallery House includes art gifts such as prints, jewelry and sculptural angels by different artists. The exhibit runs through Dec. 24, open Tuesdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Starting Nov. 29, Monday to Saturday hours are from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.) The gallery is at 320 S. California Ave., Palo Alto; go to galleryhouse2.com or call 650-326-1668.

The Portola Art Gallery is displaying a “Small Treasures” group show of smaller works that could be holiday gifts. The show runs through Dec. 31, open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (and Dec. 5 and 13 from noon to 5 p.m.) at the Allied Arts Guild, 75 Arbor Road, Menlo Park. Go to portolaartgallery.com or call 650-321-0220.

Electric trains, quilts and Meccano models are among the seasonal objects in the “Holiday Bells & Whistles” exhibit at the Los Altos History Museum, 51 S. San Antonio Road. The free exhibit runs through Jan. 2, Thursday through Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Call 650-9489427 or go to losaltoshistory.org.

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Foothill College’s student ceramics club, Claybodies, is holding a holiday pottery sale of functional pieces and sculptures from Nov. 30 through Dec. 2, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the school’s Cesar Chavez Plaza, 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills. Call 650-949-7584.

The 23rd annual Christmas Creche exhibit is open Dec. 4 through Dec. 8 from noon to 9 p.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 3865 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. Hundreds of folk-art creches from many nations will be displayed, with kids’ activities including crafts and marionette shows. Music groups including the Valparaiso Singers and the Gunn High School Chamber Singers will perform. Admission is free. Call 650-856-3781 or go to christmascreche.org. (continued on next page)

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Stanford pipe organist Robert Huw Morgan plays an annual seasonal recital at the university’s Memorial Church on Dec. 5. lins� by Eric Kimmel. Go to keplers. com or call 650-324-4321.

Arts

HO HO HO

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Wreaths, floral arrangements and other crafts will be on sale at the “Holiday Affaire� marketplace from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 4. Admission is free to the event, which is hosted by the Garden Club of Palo Alto at Gamble Garden, 1431 Waverley St., Palo Alto. Call 650-329-1356 or go to gardenclubofpaloalto.org.

The women’s nonprofit Deborah’s Palm is holding a free holiday bazaar with wreath-making, food gifts and crafts for sale, and strolling minstrels from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 4 at 555 Lytton Ave. in Palo Alto. Call 650-473-0664 or go to deborahspalm.org.

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Peninsula School hosts a craft fair with handmade toys, jewelry, textile art, ceramics, artisan foods, and other items for sale from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 5. The school is at 920 Peninsula Way in Menlo Park. Go to peninsulaschool.org or call 650325-1584.

Kids and families Kids’ author Anna Dewdney gives a free talk on her book “Llama Llama Holiday Drama� at 4 p.m.

Dec. 1 at Books Inc., 855 El Camino Real (Town & Country Village), Palo Alto. Go to booksinc.net or call 650-321-0600.

Kepler’s Books hosts a free Hanukkah story time at 11:30 a.m.

Dec. 5 at 1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park. The featured book is “Hershel and the Hanukkah Gob-

“Madeline’s Christmas� — the musical version — comes to the Palo Alto Children’s Theatre at 1305 Middlefield Road, with several afternoon and evening performances between Dec. 7 and Dec. 19. Tickets are $12 general and $8 for children; go to cityofpaloalto.org or call 650463-4970.

The West Bay Model Railroad Association presents its annual Christmas model-railroad show at 1090 Merrill St. in Menlo Park, with running model trains and railroad memorabilia. Hours are 7 to 10 p.m. Dec. 10, noon to 6 p.m. Dec. 11, and noon to 5 p.m. Dec. 12. Admission is free.

Call 650-322-0685.

The holiday LEGO and train display returns to Palo Alto’s Museum of American Heritage on Dec. 10 and remains until Jan. 9, open 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Friday through Sunday at 351 Homer Ave. The scene includes a 12-by-25-foot train layout with many local landmarks. Admission is $2 general and free for active museum and Bay Area LEGO User Group members. Call 650-321-1004 or go to moah.org.

Peninsula Youth Theatre presents “The Match Girl’s Gift,� the Laurie Brooks stage adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen holiday story. Show times are 9:30 and 11 a.m. Dec. 10 (tickets $8), and 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Dec. 11 (tickets $10), at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts at 500 Castro St. Go to pytnet.org or call 650903-6000. N

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

In search of all that sparkles ...

Local boutiques offer plenty of bling to wear or give

by Emma Trotter is the season, which in retail means it’s time for customers to shop — and for storekeepers to unveil the latest and greatest in holiday clothing, accessories and décor despite the shaky economy.

Cedide Olcay owns Orapa Boutique — also called the Orapa Gallery of Wearable Arts — in downtown Palo Alto.

She hand-makes some of her merchandise and picks the rest from other artists’ showrooms both locally and in Europe.

Olcay, who is originally from Turkey, said that almost any item in her store would be suitable to wear to a party or give as a gift.

“Look at the wings on the side, how it pleats in different directions,” she said of a floorlength black dress. “This would be great for a really fancy party.” She also recommended women’s party wear for more casual get-togethers.

Most of the customers she gets are looking for gifts, Olcay said, pointing to a table stocked with handmade soaps and socks with fun patterns and designs. She says it’s too soon in the season to tell whether she’ll have more or fewer customers than last year.

“This location is a little offbeat,” she said. “I get some (walk-in customers) but I wish I could get more.

This year I’ll have to see.”

Over at Therapy on Castro Street in Mountain View, though, holiday sales are in full swing.

“It’s better than last year already,” Carrie Arnold, manager, said. “We’ve seen a lot of people gift shopping and it’s only mid-November.”

Home-décor products have been top gift choices, she said, indicating stainless-steel pieces, light-up flower displays and eco-friendly mugs. Therapy also sells trendy clothes aimed at slightly younger shoppers than those who might frequent Orapa.

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A sterling silver turquoise and cornelian necklace from Afterwards.

“This is a great holiday dress,” Arnold said, modeling a glittery beige knit garment from Therapy’s inventory. She pointed out a few other items around the store. “Sequins and beading are really in fashion right now. It’s traditional holiday glamour.”

When her store, which is much smaller than Therapy, isn’t busy, Olcay makes scarves at a table near the back — and they’re anything but traditional. She takes pride in adding a unique twist or embellishment to each design, and also stocks scarves by other designers.

“They can be part of holiday dress up as well as gifts,” she said.

Some of her more unusual jewelry pieces include a bracelet made from newspaper comics, a pyrite necklace and broaches of “little bugs.”

Olcay doesn’t sell any specifically holiday-themed items, but just around the corner at the University Art Annex, managers were busy creating a display, including a fully decorated tree, to attract holiday shoppers.

“We’ve been moving furniture all day,” said Erin Dobson, assistant manager of next-door University Art. According to manager Tina Ford, even in mid-November they were slightly behind in erecting the display.

“I wait until the last minute to put it up, but as soon as we do people start buying,” she said.

The store sells scarves, hats, chocolates, plants, dish towels, ornaments, candles and gift wrap and bags for the holidays.

Ford expects that the effort it took to put up the display will be well worth it, drawing in customers despite the down economy.

“Things have definitely picked up.

It’s been busier for sure,” she said.

Overall, though, the store is still “expecting a similar Christmas to last year.”

In the front window of Afterwards, an upscale clothing and decor new and resale shop in Menlo Park, window shoppers can ogle such holiday party wear as a silver-sequined Armani dress and a Dolce & Gabbana red silk dress — with accessories to match.

“We carry lots of blingy evening jewelry,” said Katie Hanson, who owns the store with her husband, Bob. Pieces on display include earrings, bracelets and cuffs made of pearls, rhinestones and diamonds.

The store’s designer “brings in seasonal pieces, and then there’s great year-round pieces.”

They have shoes, too.

“Everything’s sparkle this season,” said stylist Barbara Cameron.

“Golds and metallics are always really strong.”

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Afterwards is transitioning in holiday items without giving up on autumn just yet: A fall flower display adorns one table, while a green candle and silver tinsel decorate the next.

At Plumeria, a small consignment store just off Castro Street, Jasmine Fernandez, who buys and sells at the store in addition to helping out with merchandizing, was also doing her part to attract holiday shoppers. Just before closing, she was dressing a mannequin — “doll,� as she called it. “I’m trying to bring a few more of the seasonal items out,� she said, indicating cashmere sweaters, knit dresses, scarves and a truly fabulous pair of red boots with black fur.

If she were to shop for a blingedout holiday outfit at the store, Fernandez said, she would buy one of “your not so ordinary cardigans� and some “funky slacks with a little bit of glitter to them.� “It would be really cool to wear this to a dinner party with your friends or for work,� she said of her style choice.

But customers need not feel locked in by Fernandez’s taste. “That’s the attraction of it,� she said. “It’s a total mix, a little bit of everything to appeal to any age group and taste. To me it’s cool because you’re buying a one-of a kind piece.�

Now that’s bling. N

About the cover: Smuin Ballet brings a holiday program to the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts from Dec. 8 through Dec. 12.

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Movies

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

You Only Live Once (1937) A public defender’s secretary and an ex-con try to build a life together. Friday at 7:30 p.m.

The Man I Love (1947) A singer romances a jazz pianist. Friday at 5:40 & 9:10 p.m.

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) A woman falls for the ghost of a sea captain. Sat.-Mon. at 7:30. Sat. and Sun. also at 3:45 p.m.

OPENINGS

Topper (1937)A stick-in-the-mud banker is haunted by rowdy ghosts. Sat.-Mon. at 5:40 & 9:25 p.m.

“ YOU WILL

LAUGH.YOU WILL CRY.

YOU WILL FALL IN LOVE. One Of The Best Films Of The Year!

“ANNE HATHAWAY & JAKE GYLLENHAAL SIMPLY SIZZLE TOGETHER ON SCREEN.” TRACI MELCHOR, ETALK

Rapunzel and thief Flynn Rider duke it out with a determined horse in “Tangled.” vein who is very easy to sympathize with (the big Tangled --(Century 16, Century 20) The familiar Disney green eyes don’t hurt).

Flynn talks in a laid-back way that helps make his princess formula (think “Cinderella,” “Beauty and the Beast,” etc.) gets a contemporary rinse and perm character both likable and relatable. Neither Pascal with this delightful adaptation of the classic Brothers nor Maximus speak, but each uses body language Grimm fairytale “Rapunzel.” Impressive CGI anima- to great and often hilarious effect. The dynamic that tion (3D in many theaters) and a company of incred- develops between Flynn and Maximus is wonderful. ibly appealing characters help make “Tangled” easily Gothel, though, is too one-dimensional and generic.

Although the animation isn’t quite up to Pixar stanone of the year’s best family films.

Kidnapped as a baby by the devious and manipu- dards, it’s close, which isn’t a surprise considering the lative Mother Gothel (voice of Donna Murphy) and involvement of executive producer (and Pixar genius) isolated from the world, Rapunzel (voice of Mandy John Lasseter. The filmmakers and animators also Moore) wants nothing more than freedom when her use Rapunzel’s hair in an array of creative and visu18th birthday dawns. Gothel — acting the part of ally impressive ways, whether she’s swinging over a Rapunzel’s mother — hungers for the rejuvenating cavern or swimming through a canal. Clever scenes effects sung (literally) from the girl’s magical golden abound, especially those involving rapscallions from hair and forbids her from trimming her ever-growing the Snuggly Duckling pub or Rapunzel’s surprisingly locks. The hide-and-seek games Rapunzel plays with useful frying pan.

The music — generally a Disney strength — is her pet chameleon Pascal can entertain for only so long, and a desire to see beyond her walls quickly rather uninspired. While “I’ve Got a Dream” (featuring the pub thugs) is witty and fun, other tunes consumes her.

Fate intercedes when charming thief Flynn Rider include lyrics with all the creativity spotted on the (voice of Zachary Levi) happens upon Rapunzel’s back of a cereal box. Where’s Randy Newman when tower after escaping from the king’s castle with a you need him? The 3D doesn’t improve the film subvaluable object. (Gothel is conveniently away on a stantially except in one memorable moment when two three-day sojourn.) Rapunzel, naturally, clobbers the radiant lanterns drift and dance together. The scene mysterious trespasser and binds him with her multi- is subtle but effective.

Kudos to Disney for bringing Rapunzel to the big use hair. The two reach an agreement: He’ll escort her to town so she can see firsthand the myriad floating screen in a way that made this viewer smile from lanterns that annually appear in the sky outside her ear to ear. Long hair hasn’t been this much fun since Woodstock. window, and she’ll give him back his pilfered prize.

Let the adventure begin.

Rated PG for brief mild violence. 1 hour, 32 minThe four main characters — Rapunzel, Flynn, Pascal and a determined horse named Maximus that pur- utes. sues Flynn with fervor — make a thoroughly enjoy— Tyler Hanley able quartet. Rapunzel is innocent yet strong, naïve yet confident. She is a terrific heroine in the Disney

NOW PLAYING 127 Hours --(Aquarius) Danny Boyle’s “127 Hours” dramatizes the survivalist story of hiker Aron Ralston, as told in his book “Between a Rock and a Hard Place.” In the process, James Franco positions himself for a Best Actor Oscar nomination. The title refers to the time that lone mountain climber Ralston (Franco) spends trapped in Utah’s Blue John Canyon, where a boulder pins his arm to a rock wall. Rated R for language and some disturbing violent content/bloody images. One hour, 34 minutes. — P.C. (Reviewed Nov. 19, 2010) Fair Game --1/2 (CineArts) Beltway power couple Valerie Plame (Naomi Watts) and Joe Wilson (Sean Penn) find themselves under attack

after diplomat and consultant Joe poohpoohs what George W. Bush called “the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud”: Saddam Hussein’s purported purchase of uranium. Wilson’s investigation finds no threat, but the war machine doesn’t stop, leading Wilson to poison-pen the New York Times op-ed “What I Didn’t Find in Africa.” Somewhere in the shadows, senior Bush adviser Karl Rove decides “Wilson’s wife is fair game,” precipitating the outing of Plame as a CIA covert operations officer. With her operations burnt (and her contacts in danger), Plame’s career implodes. And thus begins “the war at home” on two fronts: in the media and in the house of Plame and Wilson. Rated PG-13 for some language.

One hour, 48 minutes. — P.C. (Reviewed Nov. 12, 2010)

“IT WILL GO DOWN AS A CLASSIC. ONE OF THE MOST ENDEARING FILMS IN YEARS.” AVI OFFER, NYC MOVIE GURU

GYLLENHAAL GIVES THE BEST PERFORMANCE OF HIS CAREER.”

KEVIN MC CARTHY, CBS/CBS-RADIO

“THE SMARTEST, SEXIEST AND DOWNRIGHT BEST SCREEN– MELTING ROMANCE THIS YEAR.” JAKE HAMILTON, FOX-TV

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest ----

(Guild) Lisbet Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo, the girl who played with fire, doesn’t literally kick any nests in this last installment of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy. In fact, Lisbet, again played

by Noomi Rapace, spends the first half or more of the film in a hospital bed. Though the target of various killers, Lisbet is not as much the center of this film as is investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist). After a violent pre-credits sequence, the action becomes more political than physical. Mikael, together with his editor and occasional lover Erika Berger (Lena Endre) and the rest of the staff of their magazine, digs deep to get the goods on the corrupt officials and shrinks who put Lisbet into a mental hospital at age 12.

(continued on next page)

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Movies (continued from previous page) Rated R for strong violence, some sexual material and brief language. Two hours, 28 minutes. — R.P. (Reviewed Oct. 29, 2010) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 ---1/2 (Century 16, Century 20) The boy wizard who has captivated audiences since his literary introduction in 1997 is at last ready for his final curtain call. Harry Potter is officially a young man in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1� (“Part 2� is due out in July 2011). From the onset it is clear “Hallows� is a darker, more intense offering than past installments. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and his best friends, Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson), are still reeling from the death of their beloved headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. But there is little time for grief. Dark wizards led by

the lives of these three individuals seem fated to intertwine. Rated PG-13 for mature thematic elements including disturbing disaster and accident images, and for brief strong language. 2 hours, 6 minutes. — T.H. (Reviewed Oct. 22, 2010)

the serpentine Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) have seized control of the wizarding world, casting an ominous shadow on all things magical.Rated PG-13 for some sequences of intense action and frightening images. 2 hours, 27 minutes. — T.H. (Reviewed Nov. 19, 2010) Hereafter ---1/2 (Century 20) Three characters in different parts of the world are united by death. A tsunami leaves famed French journalist Marie LeLay (Cecile de France) with remarkable glimpses of the afterlife; soft-spoken British lad Marcus (played by real-life identical twins Frankie and George McLaren) struggles with the untimely death of his twin brother Jason; and San Franciscan George Lonegan (Matt Damon) has an uncanny ability to communicate with the deceased — whether he likes it or not. And

Inside Job ---1/2 (CineArts) Sometimes a good documentary is one for the history books. “Inside Job� — written, produced and directed by Charles Ferguson — may end up being that sort of film. The wounds recounted may be too fresh just now for “Inside Job� to be broadly appreciated, but it’s a cogent synthesis of the factors leading to, defining and resulting from the global economic crisis of the last couple of years. Even the most casual observers of the economic crisis will have to consider much of “Inside Job� to be old news, but Ferguson delivers

it doggedly and without succumbing to blatant emotional appeal. Rated PG-13 for some drug and sex-related material. One hour, 49 minutes. — P.C. (Reviewed Oct. 22, 2010) Megamind --1/2 (Century 16, Century 20) Will Ferrell plays the dastardly doofus Megamind, the perpetual loser of epic matches with superhero Metro Man (Brad Pitt, amusingly channeling buddy George Clooney).

Always drawn into the middle, reporter Roxanne Ritchi (Tina Fey) fills the Lois Lane role. Metro City goes topsy-turvy when Megamind appears, almost accidentally, to vanquish Metro Man. What is a supervillain without his hero? This question, at times addressed seriously in the pages of comic books, gets a comic treatment — or, rather, a Ïromantic comedyÎ treatment as Megamind attempts to win over Roxanne, for whom heís long carried a torch. The storyís loose parameters of good and evil

put forward the ideal that everyone is capable of redemption. Rated PG for action and some language. One hour, 36 minutes. — P.C. (Reviewed Nov. 5 2010) The Next Three Days --(Century 16, Century 20) A remake of Fred Cavaye’s French thriller “Pour Elle,� this film deals with a literal escape, as Crowe’s John Brennan plots to spring his suicidal wife, Lara (Elizabeth Banks), from a Pittsburgh lockup. Early scenes establish how this middle-class woman finds herself sent up the river on what may or may not be a trumped-up murder charge. The audience has doubts, but John wills himself past those doubts. As he says of “Don Quixote,� “What if we choose to exist solely in a reality of our own making?� So John parks his young son with the grandparents (Brian Dennehy and Helen Carey, both sharp) and begins in earnest to make his own reality: that he will escape the country with his family intact. John begins the pro-

MOVIE TIMES Times for the Century 16 theater are for Friday through Sunday only unless otherwise noted.

127 Hours (R) (((

Aquarius Theatre: 2, 3, 4:30, 5:30, 7, 8 & 9:30 p.m.; Fri. & Sat. also at 10:30 p.m. Century 20: 11:25 a.m.; 1:55, 4:25, 7 & 9:25 p.m.

Burlesque (PG-13) (Not Reviewed)

Century 16: 9:40 & 10:40 a.m.; 12:30, 1:30, 3:40, 4:40, 6:50 & 7:40 p.m.; Fri. & Sat. also at 9:45 & 10:40 p.m.; Sun. also at 10:10 p.m. Century 20: 11:05 a.m.; 12:30, 1:50, 3:20, 4:35, 6:10, 7:30, 9 & 10:20 p.m.

Due Date (R) (Not Reviewed)

Century 16: 10:45 a.m.; 4:20 & 10:20 p.m. Century 20: 12:20, 2:45, 5:25, 7:55 & 10:15 p.m.

Fair Game (PG-13) ((1/2

Century 20: 11 a.m.; 1:35, 4:20, 7:05 & 9:40 p.m.

Palo Alto Square: 1:55, 4:30 & 7:15 p.m.; Fri. & Sat. also at 9:50 p.m.

Faster (R) (Not Reviewed)

Century 16: 11 a.m.; 1:50, 4:30, 7:20 & 10:10 p.m. Century 20: 12:25, 2:55, 5:20, 8 & 10:35 p.m.

The Girl Who Guild Theatre: 1:45, 5 & 8:15 p.m.

Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (R) (((( Glenn Beck Live: Century 16: Thu. at 8 p.m. Century 20: Thu. at 8 p.m.

Broke (PG-13) (Not Reviewed)

Harry Potter and the Century 16: 9:50, 10:30 & 11:10 a.m.; noon, 1:20, 2, 2:40, Deathly Hollows: 3:30, 5, 6:10, 7, 7:30, 8:40, 9:40 & 10:30 p.m. Century 20: Part 1 (PG-13) 11 & 11:35 a.m.; 12:10, 12:40, 1:20, 2:20, 3, 4:05, 5:45, 6:25, (((1/2 7:25, 9:10, 9:50 & 10:45 p.m.; Fri.-Tue. also at 4:40 & 8:05 p.m.; Thu. also at 4:40 p.m.

Inside Job (PG-13) (((1/2

Palo Alto Square: 2 p.m.; Fri.-Tue. & Thu. also at 4:40 & 7:20 p.m.; Fri. & Sat. also at 9:55 p.m.

Love & Other Drugs Century 16: 9:30 & 10:50 a.m.; 12:40, 1:40, 3:50, 4:50, 7:05 (R) (Not Reviewed) & 10:05 p.m.; Fri. & Sat. also at 7:55 & 10:45 p.m.; Sun. also at 8:10 p.m. Century 20: 11:45 a.m.; 2:25, 5:05, 6:40, 7:45, 9:20 & 10:30 p.m.

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IT P

Palo Alto (650) 266-9260

Graduate Education at the Frontier of Psychology and Spirituality

Steve is passionate about working to help lift children out of poverty, violence, and neglect.

After earning his M.A. from ITP, Steve founded a counseling program in East Palo Alto, a culturally rich but underserved community.

Find out more: www.itp.edu/steve Academic Programs: On-Campus & Online

Morning Glory (PG-13) (Not Reviewed)

Century 16: 1:25, 4:15, 7:15 & 10 p.m.

Century 20: 11:40 a.m.; 2:15, 4:50, 7:35 & 10:10 p.m.

The Next Three Days (PG-13) (((

Century 16: 9:45 a.m.; 12:45, 3:45, 7:10 & 10:15 p.m.

Century 20: 1:05, 4:10, 7:30 & 10:30 p.m.

Red (PG-13) (((

Century 16: Fri. & Sat. at 10:45 p.m.; Sun. at 10:25 p.m.

Century 20: 2 & 7:40 p.m.

Secretariat (PG) ((1/2

Century 20: 11:10 a.m.; 4:45 & 10:25 p.m.

Tangled (PG) (((

Century 16: 9:30 a.m.; 12:20, 3:10, 6:20 & 9:10 p.m.; In 3D at 10:20 a.m.; 1:10, 4:10, 7 & 9:55 p.m. Century 20: 12:45, 3:15, 5:40, 8:10 & 10:40 p.m.; In 3D at 11:20 a.m.; 2, 4:30, 7:15 & 9:45 p.m.

Unstoppable (PG-13) ((

Century 16: 10:55 a.m.; 1:35, 4:35, 7:50 & 10:35 p.m.

Century 20: 12:35, 3:10, 5:35, 8:15 & 10:45 p.m.

Aquarius: 430 Emerson St., Palo Alto (266-9260) Century Cinema 16: 1500 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View (800-326-3264) Century 20 Downtown: 825 Middlefield Road, Redwood City (800-326-3264) CinĂŠArts at Palo Alto Square: 3000 El Camino Real, Palo Alto (493-3456)

Open House

First Tuesday of Every Month 7:00 P.M.

accredited by the western association of schools and colleges Page 24ĂŠUĂŠ ÂœĂ›i“LiĂ€ĂŠĂ“Ăˆ]ÊÓä£äÊUĂŠ*>Â?ÂœĂŠ Â?ĂŒÂœĂŠ7iiÂŽÂ?Ăž

The Metropolitan Century 20: Wed. at 6:30 p.m. Palo Alto Square: Wed. at Opera: Don Pasquale 6:30 p.m.

(Not Rated) (Not Reviewed)

( Skip it (( Some redeeming qualities ((( A good bet (((( Outstanding

r Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology r 1Äľ % Ĝĝ 5ŀĎĝŠĽIJŀŠğĝĎĚ 1Ĺ ĹˆÄ°ÄľÄźÄšÄźÄ´Ĺˆ r . " Ĝĝ $ÄźĹƒÄťĹ Ä˛ÄšÄśÄťÄ´ 1Ĺ ĹˆÄ°ÄľÄźÄšÄźÄ´Ĺˆ .'5 -ÄśÄ°Ä˛ÄťĹ ĹƒĹ€Ä˛

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1069 East Meadow Circle, Palo Alto CA 94303 [ph] 650.493.4430 [email] info@.itp.edu

Century 16: In 3D at 9:35 a.m.; 12:10, 2:35, 5:10, 7:45 & 10:25 p.m. Century 20: 11:15 a.m.; 1:40 & 4:15 p.m.; In 3D at 11:55 a.m.; 2:30, 4:55, 7:20 & 9:55 p.m.

The Social Network Century 16: 1:15 & 7:25 p.m. Century 20: 3:50, 6:50 & 10 (PG-13) (((1/2 p.m.

“ITP changed my life, and now, working together with wonderful ITP interns, we are changing the lives of hundreds of kids by helping their families strengthen and stabilize.�

Institute of Transpersonal Psychology

Megamind (PG) ((1/2

Guild: 949 El Camino Real, Menlo Park (266-9260) Stanford: 221 University Ave., Palo Alto (324-3700) Internet: For show times, plot synopses, trailers and more information about films playing, go to PaloAltoOnline.com.

Movies

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Jesse Eisenberg plays Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in “The Social Network.� cess by plying frequent escapee Damon Pennington (guest star Liam Neeson), who explains that the prison break is the easy part; escaping the post-9/11 rapidresponse cordon is hard. And so begins an odyssey that presses a man to his limits.

Rated PG-13 for violence, drug material, language, some sexuality and thematic elements. Two hours, 13 minutes. — P.C. (Reviewed Nov. 19, 2010) Red --(Century 16, Century 20) “Red� stars Bruce Willis as Frank Moses, a retired CIA blackops agent with a fearsome reputation.

Of course, news of Frank’s skills haven’t reached his suburban neighbors or Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker), the Social Security office cubicle worker he’s taken to chatting up over the phone. Frank’s quiet life doesn’t last long: his plan to travel to Kansas City to meet up with Sarah hits a snag when armed commandos attempt to kill him. For Sarah’s safety, he’ll have to abduct her and keep her in line while looking up old friends also classified as “RED�: “Retired — Extremely Dangerous.� Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action violence and brief strong language. One hour, 51 minutes. — P.C. (Reviewed Oct. 15 2010)

The Social Network ---1/2 (Century 16, Century 20) This riveting film about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg defines a generation. Director David Fincher helms with a deft touch; the screenplay

by Aaron Sorkin is beautifully crafted; and the acting is exceptional. In fact, the only thing missing from “The Social Network� is a likable protagonist. Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) wasn’t always the world’s youngest billionaire. In 2003, the computer whiz was a Harvard undergrad, more interested in dating than status updates.

Harvard students (and twins) Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (Armie Hammer and Josh Pence) and a colleague approach Zuckerberg to enlist his help with the development of Harvard Connection, a MySpace-esque site for Harvard students.

Zuckerberg enlists the financial and moral support of his best friend, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), to create his own socialnetworking site. Rated PG-13 for language, drug and alcohol use and sexual content.

2 hours, 1 minute. — T.H. (Reviewed OCt. 1, 2010) Unstoppable -(Century 16, Century 20) Screenwriter Mark Bomback draws on a true story that unfolded in 2001 in Ohio, where an unmanned train got away from its conduc-

tor and hurtled 66 miles with a cargo of toxic, non-flammable molten phenol. The same scenario unfolds in “Unstoppable,� only with much louder music and exclamations about “thousands of gallons of highly flammable fuel.� The villains, then, aren’t terrorists, but rather the fat cats making executive decisions from the golf course.

Don’t they understand that they’re making it nearly impossible for the clever and hard-working bourgeoisie to save the day?

With its one-track premise, “Unstoppable� derails thrills. Rated PG-13 for sequences of action and peril, and some language.

One hour, 39 minutes. — P.C. (Reviewed Nov. 12, 2010)

Fri and Sat ONLY 11/26 - 11-27 Sun - Thurs 11/28 - 11-30 Wed ONLY 12/01 Thurs ONLY 12/02

Fair Game 1:55, 4:30, 7:20, 9:50 Inside Job 2:00, 4:40, 7:20, 9:55 Fair Game 1:55, 4:30, 7:20 Inside Job 2:00, 4:40, 7:20 Fair Game 1:55, 4:30, 7:20 Inside Job 2:00 Fair Game 1:55, 4:30, 7:20 Inside Job 2:00, 4:40, 7:20

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Last Year’s Grant Recipients Adolescent Counseling Services ..........$10,000 All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Palo Alto ....$7,500 California Family Foundation ....................$2,500 CASSY (Counseling and Support .............$5,000 Cleo Eulau Center.......................................$2,500 Collective Roots..........................................$5,000 Community Legal Services in EPA ..........$5,000 Downtown Streets Team ........................$15,000 DreamCatchers ........................................$5,000 East Palo Alto Children’s Day Committee ..................................................$5,000 East Palo Alto Kids Foundation ................$7,500 East Palo Alto Youth Court ........................$5,000 Environmental Volunteers ........................$3,000 EPA.net.........................................................$2,500 Foothill-De Anza Foundation ....................$5,000 Girls To Women .........................................$2,500 Gunn High School Green Team................$1,000 InnVision ......................................................$5,000 Jewish Family and Children’s Services ....$5,000 JLS Middle School PTA.............................$3,500 Jordan Middle School PTA.......................$3,500 Kara ..............................................................$5,000 Mayview Community Health Center .....$10,000 Music in the Schools Foundation ............$5,000 New Creation Home Ministries ...............$5,000 Northern California Urban Development ....$7,500 Nuestra Casa ..............................................$5,000 Opportunity Health Center .......................$7,500 Palo Alto Art Center Foundation ..............$5,000 Palo Alto YMCA ..........................................$5,000 Palo Alto Library Foundation .................$50,000 Palo Alto PTA Council Arts ......................$2,000 Quest Learning Center of the EPA Library ..................................................$5,000 Reading Partners .......................................$7,500 St. Elizabeth Seton School .......................$5,000 St. Vincent de Paul Society ......................$5,000 West Meadow Track Watch Patrols.......$5,000 Youth Community Service .........................$5,000 Youth United for Community Action (YUCA) .............................................$2,500 CHILD CARE CAPITAL GRANTS Children’s Center .......................................$3,000 Palo Alto Community Child Care ..............$3,000 PreSchool Family .......................................$3,000 The Children’s Pre-School Center ...........$3,000

Eating Out

Michelle Le

Mystic coffee Sufi Coffee Shop offers house-roasted java, community and contemplation

by Sheila Himmel

S

andwiched between a barber and a computer-repair shop, the Sufi Coffee Shop is hard to spot unless you’re looking for it. The sign over the door reads: “Prepare to be surprised at how those parts come together.”

You will likely be gently welcomed by Parviz Rasti, in wirerim glasses and a sweater, looking very much the college professor he was for 25 years. Rasti opened the Sufi Coffee Shop and Cultural Center in 2003 at the request of his Sufi master.

Sufism is 6,000 years old, predating other religions. Rasti’s order is Persian, accepts all religions and does not seek converts.

Rasti will explain as much or as little as you want. It’s also perfectly fine to just come in and have coffee or a sandwich with friends, and talk about baseball, or to sit quietly and read. The back patio is a hodge-podge of furniture and plants, WiFi access and typed notes pasted to

the wall. Such as: “Wisdom is knowing what to overlook.”

You can thumb through second-hand copies of Homer’s “Odyssey” or “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.”

If you want to read something about Sufism, ask Rasti.

“It’s there if you’re looking for it,” Rasti says of the well-stocked bookcase. “We don’t push anything. Out of 100 people who come here, maybe one or two buy a book,” he says, and he’s fine with that.

Rasti was a professor of comparative literature for 25 years in Iran. When asked about how he came to open the coffee shop/ cultural center, he smiles and quotes Robert Frost: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.

(with min. order)

“THE BEST PIZZA WEST OF NEW YORK” —Ralph Barbieri KNBR 680

880 Santa Cruz Ave Menlo Park

RESTAURANT REVIEW

The fresh-roasted coffee at Sufi’s.

FREE DELIVERY

Rasti brought his family to the United States in 1995. Three years later, they opened a coffee shop in Sonoma County. It was just a coffee shop. But Rasti’s Sufi master decided that turnof-the-millennium Silicon Valley needed a taste of Sufi values — community, kindness, altruism — and that Rasti was the one to do it.

At the Sufi Coffee Shop, the paths of West and East converge. Soft background music may be an Argentinean bandoneon or the classical Persian setar, a four-stringed lute.

Way up in a corner is a photograph of Javad Nurbakhsh, a Sufi master, but the walls are dotted with the words of such Western thinkers as Helen Keller, Mark Twain, Frank Lloyd Wright and Walt Whitman. “We’re trying to bring Walt Whitman back into American culture, and other legendary people who’ve done something for humanity.”

In the back patio, geraniums, bougainvillea and roses are in full bloom. Dark wine grapes hang on a vine that started as a 2-inch volunteer that Rasti noticed when he moved in.

Like the grape vines, the Sufi Coffee Shop grows. Changes include credit cards and WiFi access. “It’s a small convenience, for people to read their e-mail.

But this is not an office,” says Rasti, who posts a two-hour limit on WiFi use.

Rasti roasts coffee two or three times a week in a roaster out back. He also makes the soups: lentil, vegetable/bean and Persian. What is Persian soup? “You have to try it,” Rasti says, giving the visitor a container to take home. Rasti’s wife prepares the sandwiches.

Each cup of coffee is freshly ground and brewed, resulting in a depth of flavor that should be tasted before adding cream or sugar. At least one of the wholeleaf teas, red lychee, also is delicious. In both cases, Rasti says, “It’s because of love that is Sufism.”

Coffees include the house blend, Sufi, and Yemen, Brazilian, Kenyan and Jamaican Blue Mountain. Except for Jamaican Blue Mountain, which varies, prices range from $2.95 for 12 ounces to $5 for 16 ounces.

There are espresso drinks, chai lattes and a half-dozen mocha drinks, made with Ghirardelli chocolate. Persian mocha is a double espresso with peppermint (continued on next page)

(at University Drive)

(650) 329-8888

226 Redwood Shores Pkwy Redwood Shores (Next to Pacific Athletic Club)

(650) 654-3333

MENLO PARK FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT PUBLIC NOTICE BOARD VACANCY The Menlo Park Fire Protection District includes the Cities of Menlo Park, Atherton and East Palo Alto and some unincorporated areas of San Mateo County. It is responsible for providing fire protection and emergency medical services within its jurisdiction.

The Menlo Park Fire Protection District currently consists of five (5) Directors. A vacancy on the Board has occurred due to a resignation by Director Peter Ohtaki, whose term runs to November 2011.

The Menlo Park Fire Protection District is currently accepting applications from individuals interested in filling the vacancy on the Fire Board. The appointee shall hold office until November 2011, when the next regular election of the Directors is conducted.

Application forms are available online at www.menlofire.org or may be picked up at the Menlo Park Fire Protection District Administration Office located at 170 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday. All persons interested in appointment must complete and submit this form no later than 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, December 7, 2010. All applicants must be residents and registered voters in the District. Interviews will be conducted by the Board on Thursday, December 9, 2010, at a publicly noticed special Board meeting, commencing at 5:00 p.m.

City of Palo Alto NOTICE OF AVAILABILITY OF A DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a Draft Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) has been prepared by the Palo Alto Department of Planning and Community Environment for the project listed below. This document will be available for review and comment during a 20-day inspection period beginning December 1, 2010 through December 20, 2010 during the business hours Monday – Friday, 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM and 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM; Wednesdays 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM at the Development Center, 285 Hamilton Avenue and at the Department of Planning and Community Environment, 250 Hamilton Avenue.

All locations are within the City of Palo Alto.

PROJECT SUMMARY: 1880 Embarcadero Road [10PLN-00233]: Request by Stoecker and Northway on behalf of Girl‘s Middle School for a Conditional Use Permit and Architectural Review for a new educational facility for 205 students and 35 staff within an existing vacant office building. Zone: ROLM(E)(A)(D).

PUBLIC REVIEW AND SUBMITTAL OF WRITTEN COMMENTS: If you wish to comment on the MND, please submit your written comments

by December 20, 2010 to Clare Campbell, Department of Planning and Community Environment, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301, or via email clare.campbell@cityofpaloalto.org.

Curtis Williams, Director of Planning and Community Environment In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, listening assistive devices are available in the Council Chambers and Council Conference Room. Sign language interpreters will be provided upon request with 72 hours advance notice.

*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÈ]ÊÓä£äÊU Page 27

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syrup and cardamom.

Just about every week, Sufi house members and regular customers deliver sandwiches to a homeless shelter.

Rasti defines the relationship he seeks with customers: “We are two people facing each other. Not owner and customer. Not just an exchange of money. I want to give them something more, not take.� N Sufi Coffee Shop 815 El Camino Real, Mountain View 650-962-9923 Hours: Daily 10 a.m.-7 p.m. www.suficoffeeshop.org

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L U C I L E PA C K A R D

Check out the Weekly’s Community Calendar for the Midpeninsula.

Eating Out

C H I L D R E N ’ S H O S P I TA L

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

CHRISTMAS TREES &WREATHS Nativity School will be selling Christmas Trees & Wreaths beginning Friday, November 26th and ending on Sunday, December 12th.

This is a fundraiser for Nativity School.

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

HEART TO HEART SEMINAR ON GROWING UP Informative, humorous and lively discussions between parents and their pre-teens on puberty, the opposite sex and growing up. Girls attend these two-part sessions with their moms and boys attend with their dads.

- For Girls: Mondays, December 6 & 13: 6:30 – 8:30 pm - For Boys: Tuesdays, November 30 & December 7: 6:30 – 8:30 pm

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

p.m. a.m. a.m. a.m. -

8:00 9:00 9:00 7:00

p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m.

NATIVITY SCHOOL Corner of Oak Grove & Laurel, Menlo Park For information go to www.nativitytreelot.com Fire-Proofing and Delivery Service are available

SIBLING PREPARATION CLASS

THIS SPACE IS DONATED AS A COMMUNITY SERVICE BY THE PALO ALTO WEEKLY

This class for children two years of age and older will help prepare siblings for the emotional and physical realities of the arrival of a newborn.

- Saturday, December 4: 10:30 am – 12:00 pm

CESAREAN BIRTH CLASS This two-hour class is taught by a labor and delivery nurse/childbirth educator who helps prepare families for cesarean delivery. Information about vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) will also be discussed.

- Wednesday, December 8: 7:00 – 9:00 pm

COMFORT TECHNIQUES FOR LABOR For couples who have already completed Childbirth Prep, this class provides additional tools and practice for relaxation, breathing and comfort measures for labor.

- Wednesday, December 15: 6:30 – 8:30 pm.

Call (650) 723-4600 or visit www.calendar.lpch.org to register or obtain more information on the times, locations and fees for these and other courses.

L U C I L E PA C K A R D

In a tough situation?

Turn to Avenidas for help: Information & Assistance Family consultations on aging issues Support Groups Counseling

¡ ¡ ¡ ¡

Visit www.avenidas.org or call (650) 289-5433 for your appointment today.

C H I L D R E N’S H O S P I T A L Where age is just a number V I S I T W W W. L P C H . O R G TO S I G N U P F O R C L A S S E S Page 28ĂŠUĂŠ ÂœĂ›i“LiĂ€ĂŠĂ“Ăˆ]ÊÓä£äÊUĂŠ*>Â?ÂœĂŠ Â?ĂŒÂœĂŠ7iiÂŽÂ?Ăž

PIZZA

Pizza Chicago 424-9400

of the week

4115 El Camino Real, Palo Alto This IS the best pizza in town

Spot A Pizza 324-3131 115 Hamilton Ave, Palo Alto Voted Best Pizza in Palo Alto www.spotpizza.com

AMERICAN

CHINESE

Armadillo Willy’s 941-2922

Peking Duck 321-9388

1031 N. San Antonio Rd., Los Altos

151 S. California Avenue, Palo Alto

Range: $5.00-13.00

We also deliver.

POLYNESIAN Trader Vic’s 849-9800 4269 El Camino Real, Palo Alto

Hobee’s 856-6124 4224 El Camino Real, Palo Alto Also at Town & Country Village, Palo Alto 327-4111

Su Hong – Menlo Park

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

Dining Phone: 323–6852

Sun 4:30 - 9:30pm

To Go: 322–4631

Available for private luncheons

Winner, Palo Alto Weekly “Best Of”

Burmese

8 years in a row!

Green Elephant Gourmet

INDIAN

Happy Hour Mon-Fri 4-6 pm

SEAFOOD

(650) 494-7391 Burmese & Chinese Cuisine

Darbar Indian Cuisine 321-6688

3950 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto

129 Lytton, Downtown Palo Alto

(Charleston Shopping Center)

Lunch Buffet M-F; Open 7 days

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

CHINESE Chef Chu’s (650) 948-2696

Janta Indian Restaurant 462-5903 369 Lytton Ave., Downtown Palo Alto

751 El Camino Real, Menlo Park

ITALIAN Spalti Ristorante 327-9390

Lunch Monday-Friday 11 AM - 2 PM Dinner Monday-Sunday 5 PM - 9 PM

Seafood Dinners from $6.95 to $10.95

Scott’s Seafood 323-1555

2008 Best Chinese MV Voice & PA Weekly

Cook’s Seafood 325-0604

Lunch Buffet M-F; Organic Veggies

1067 N. San Antonio Road on the corner of El Camino, Los Altos

Lounge open nightly

408 California Ave. Palo Alto 328-8840

#1 Town & Country Village, Palo Alto Open 7 days a week serving breakfast,

417 California Ave, Palo Alto

lunch and dinner

Jing Jing 328-6885

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Happy Hour 7 days a week 4-7 pm

443 Emerson St., Palo Alto

www.spalti.com

Full Bar, Banquets, Outdoor Seating

Authentic Szechwan, Hunan Food To Go, Delivery www.jingjinggourmet.com

JAPANESE & SUSHI Fuki Sushi 494-9383

Ming’s 856-7700 1700 Embarcadero East, Palo Alto www.mings.com

www.scottsseafoodpa.com

STEAKHOUSE

4119 El Camino Real, Palo Alto Open 7 days a Week

Sundance the Steakhouse 321-6798 1921 El Camino Real, Palo Alto

New Tung Kee Noodle House

MEXICAN

520 Showers Dr., MV in San Antonio Ctr.

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

Search a complete listing of local restaurant reviews by location or type of food on PaloAltoOnline.com

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

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*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÈ]ÊÓä£äÊU Page 29

1ST PLACE

BEST SPORTS COVERAGE

California Newspaper Publishers Association

Sports Shorts

Don Feria/stanfordphoto.com

PREP ALUMS . . . Freshman Erin McLaughlin from Castilleja received the University Athletic Association (UAA) Athlete of the Week award for women’s volleyball last week. McLaughlin was named NCAA New York Region Tournament Most Outstanding Player and helped lead the Violets to a 3-0 weekend (Nov. 12-14).

NYU earned its first regional title since 2005 and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight. McLaughlin recorded 32 kills (2.91 per set) with a team-best .417 hitting percentage, 10 service aces, 18 digs, and a team-high six blocks.

This is McLaughlin’s first Athlete of the Week Award. NYU’s season, however, ended this past weekend as the Violets (38-6) dropped a 25-16, 25-16, 25-10 decision to third-ranked Washington University in the tournament quarterfinal match. McLaughlin had six kills and three digs while teammate and Menlo School grad Alexis Schwartz provided 14 digs, giving her a team-leading 581 this season, a school record. . . . Palo Alto High grad Hillary Ford was named honorable mention on the All-Ivy League team last week after helping the Tigers finish third place in league play.

Ford, a junior libero from Portola Valley, averaged 3.98 digs per set, seventh-best in the Ivy League, and her 22 service aces led Princeton and ranked ninth in the league. Ford had doubledigit digs in 15 of Princeton’s last 16 matches, though she saved her best for last; she recorded a career-high 30 digs in the season finale against Penn. . . . Menlo School grads Mike Merlone and Matt Hale closed their college careers by helping lead No. 15ranked Princeton to an 8-7 win over 17th-ranked Bucknell in the third-place game of the 2010 CWPA Eastern Championships on Sunday. Palo Alto High grad Tim Wenzlau led the Tigers (19-7) with three goals while Hale added two. Merlone, the school’s all-time leader in saves, made nine in his final game.

Stanford senior Sione Fua has a had plenty to celebrate this season, especially after suffering through a 1-11 campaign in 2006. Should the Cardinal defeat visiting Oregon State on Saturday, the team will have completed a turnaround with an 11-1 record before heading into a postseason bowl game.

It’s not quite going worst to first But Stanford seniors Sherman and Fua, who remember the 1-11 season in 2006, are looking forward to finishing 11-1

by Rick Eymer ichard Sherman and Sione Fua were part of the worst season in Stanford football history. Five years later, they can be part of the best season in school annals.

Should the seventh-ranked Cardinal (7-1, 10-1) finish its regular season with a victory over visiting Oregon State (4-3, 5-5) Saturday,

R

that one-win season of 2006 will look like a distant memory with a sparkling 11-1 mark to take into the postseason as the most victories in a single season for Stanford.

“You don’t have that same desire to win,” Fua said of his first year on campus. “You’d be looking at the clock and you couldn’t wait for practice to get over. Even then I knew we had the guys coming in to do things

Sherman, the team’s leading receiver his freshman year, said the work ethic from then to now is about the same. These days it’s just more fun.

“People worked hard day in and day out and we go 1-11,” Sherman said. “The transition from the work stand point was not that dramatic. It (continued on page 38)

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Levin has done everything for top-ranked Stanford Junior hopes to continue an ‘MVP’ season in NCAA Elite Eight

by Rick Eymer

ON THE AIR

J

Friday Women’s basketball: South Carolina at Stanford, 1 p.m.; KZSU (90.1 FM) Women’s volleyball: Arizona St. at Stanford, 7 p.m., KZSU (90.1 FM)

Saturday Jim Shorin/stanfordphoto.com

College football: Oregon St. at Stanford, 4:30 p.m.; Versus; XTRA (860 AM); KZSU (90.1 FM)

Sunday Women’s basketball: Texas at Stanford, 12:30 p.m., Comcast Sports Net Bay Area; KZSU (90.1 FM)

READ MORE ONLINE

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

like this and play in a big game.”

Fua left school after the spring semester to go on his Mormon mission, but a taste of Jim Harbaugh’s first spring camp left him with a good impression.

“I always knew I wanted to come back to Stanford,” he said. “We’ve had a special season so far and we still have some of our goals ahead of us.”

Stanford junior Camille Levin has played every position but goalie for the No. 1-ranked Cardinal women’s soccer team.

Page 30ÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÈ]ÊÓä£äÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii Þ

unior Camille Levin is to the Stanford women’s soccer team what your local handywoman is to the neighborhood. She’s the one who fixes things, putting things back in working condition.

Maybe she’s not so well known around the soccer world, but she is certainly appreciated by her teammates.

If there were such a thing as MVP (for the most versatile player), Levin would probably win it by default.

During her tenure at Stanford, she’s played 10 of the 11 positions on the soccer field. She has no interest in becoming another Kira Maker or Emily Oliver. In fact, she’s never even had an impulse to stand in front of a net unless she was about to head

in a corner kick.

An All-American high school player and United States Junior National Team veteran, Levin was asked to play center middle as a freshman at Stanford. She’d never played there before. Her prep career was at outside back.

As the roster evolved, she found herself adapting to other positions.

Sophomore outside back Rachel Quon missed two games last year so Cardinal coach Paul Ratcliffe asked Levin to fill in.

When sophomore Courtney Verloo was moved to defense this year, it was Levin who moved to the forward line.

“I’ve prepared for wherever,” (continued on page 37)

NORCAL VOLLEYBALL

Paly hopes revenge is sweet Vikings will get a rematch with St. Francis (Sacramento) on Saturday in semifinals

by Keith Peters

Keith Peters

P

The Palo Alto girls’ volleyball team proudly posed with its Central Coast Section Division I trophy on Saturday following a three-game sweep of No. 3 Menlo-Atherton at Independence High in San Jose. The section championship was the first ever for the Vikings’ volleyball program.

Mary Jane Elmore

alo Alto was headed toward the best girls’ volleyball season in school history a year ago when the Vikings’ campaign was abruptly halted in the semifinals of the Northern California playoffs.

Palo Alto lost to St. Francis (Sacramento), finishing the season 36-5 while equaling the finish of the 2000 Paly team that also reached the semis before losing.

It’s a year later and the Vikings are enjoying THE best season in school history with a 38-1 record.

Palo Alto once again will face St. Francis (Sacramento) in the semifinals of the NorCal playoffs, this time in Division I. This time, however, the Vikings will be playing at home (7 p.m.) and are seeded No. 2 while St. FrancisSac (31-7) is No. 3.

“We are definitely focused and determined to beat SF Sac on Saturday, and will be preparing hard over the Thanksgiving break to reach the next step,” said Palo Alto coach Dave Winn. “They are an opponent we know, so I guess that could benefit us. Plus, they knocked us out of the NorCal playoffs last year, so I think my girls will be very motivated to return the favor to them.”

Because Palo Alto is the No. 2 NorCal seed, however, a victory on Saturday means a road trip for the NorCal finals next Tuesday.

“So, yeah, if we get past SF-Sac and have to travel to Stockton to play St. Mary’s, it’s certainly more challenging,” Winn said. “But, getting to a state championship is supposed to be hard! We’ll do our best.”

Palo Alto wasn’t at its best on Tuesday night in its NorCal opener at home, but the Vikings didn’t need to be during a 25-14, 25-13, 25-13 victory over No. 7 Lincoln of San Francisco (19-12).

The Vikings rolled to an easy win behind junior Melanie Wade’s 17 kills while once again raising the school record to single-season victories (38).

“Our girls played really well, and even the six girls I pulled up from the JV got in the match and made some good contributions,” said Winn, whose team was elevated to No. 14 in the state this week by CalHi Sports. This is the highest ranking in the team’s history.

Lincoln, the San Francisco City champ, didn’t have anyone to match up with Paly’s tall front line of the 6-foot-5 Wade, 6-2 Maddie Kuppe and 6-foot Trina Ohms. The Vikings, however, struggled with their serving in Game 1 despite holding an 18-12 lead. After discussing the service errors, Paly righted itself and rolled.

Paly will be making only its second appearance in the NorCal semifinals since 2000. The Vikings lost

Despite entering the Central Coast Section Division IV playoffs as the No. 4 seed, Sacred Heart Prep was able to celebrate a second straight championship after knocking off No. 2 Notre Dame-Belmont in the finals on Saturday at Independence High in San Jose. The Gators also beat No. 1 Soquel in the semifinals. to St. Francis (Mountain View) that year.

In another NorCal opener on Tuesday, Sacred Heart Prep, seeded No. 2 in Division IV, also advanced easily with a 25-17, 25-16, 25-9 romp over No. 7 Sutter (38-11) in Atherton.

Sacred Heart Prep (22-10) will host a NorCal semifinal on Saturday at 7 p.m., against No. 3 Marin Catholic (29-13). The Gators will need to start a little faster than they did Tuesday.

“We started off very slow!” said Gators’ coach Damian Hardy. “I think we had a case of the first-round jitters. (But) We kept our passes on point and played great defense.

“A great crowd helped us battle through the first two sets. We finally got our defense to rurn into some offense and pull away in the third.

Our serving was also tough.”

Junior Sarah Daschbach led SHP with 12 kills, two aces and two blocks while sophomore Sonia

Abuel-Saud had 13 digs and junior libero Olivia Bertolacci added 15 digs.

“Sutter put up a great fight,” Hardy said. “They knew they had to play a great match and started out doing so. I think our crowd, defense, ball control and, eventually, our serving overwhelmed them.”

Sacred Heart Prep, which was ranked No. 2 in the state Division IV poll this week by Cal-Hi Sports, will host a Marin Catholic team that swept No. 6 Golden Sierra on Tuesday, 25-21, 25-18, 25-18.

The Gators beat Marin Catholic in the first round last season before falling to Christian Brothers in the semifinals. This is only SHP’s second appearance in the NorCal playoffs since 2001.

While Palo Alto and Sacred Heart Prep advanced, Menlo-Atherton did not — despite what was first listed at www.cifstate.org web site. Following the Bears’ match with No. 4 Foothill in Pleasanton on Tuesday

night, the No. 5 Bears were listed as 25-22, 29-27, 25-18 winners.

Unfortunately for Menlo-Atherton, the winner was listed incorrectly and the NCS champs actually had advanced.

The loss ended the prep careers of M-A seniors Regina Mullen, Diane Seely and Sofi King, who finished up 22-9 this season with a second straight appearance in the Central Coast Section finals. Mullen had nine kills while sophomore Ali Spindt contributed 12 digs.

Menlo-Atherton was a little better last Saturday, but still fell to topseeded Palo Alto in the CCS Division I finals at Independence High in San Jose.

The Vikings had too much going for them, including Kimmy Whitson’s 17th birthday.

Whitson celebrated twice on Saturday as Palo Alto captured the title with a 25-17, 25-19, 25-14 victory over the No. 3-seeded Bears.

Whitson first enjoyed the post-

game celebration on the floor, which included hoisting the first-ever CCS trophy in Paly volleyball history.

Then it was off to the cupcakes and balloons and the singing.

“What a present,” said Winn.

Whitson had to agree.

“It’s so exciting,” Whitson said.

“We get a banner and, to be the team that made it happen is really special.”

Palo Alto made the championship happen with all-around team play that hadn’t been seen in nearly six weeks.

Palo Alto welcomed back Kuppe to the front row after she had been sidelined with a leg injury. Winn had nursed her along, sitting her for four weeks.

“I couldn’t risk a stress fracture,” he said.

Palo Alto played some 15 matches without Kuppe being in her normal position or even on the court. Amaz(continued on page 36)

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Sports

2010 CCS Water Polo Championships

Revenge is sweet for Menlo Knights make up for two earlier OT losses by toppling the champs

by Keith Peters

Keith Peters

N

Menlo School coach Jack Bowen receives the ritual honor bestowed on winning coaches as he’s carried into the pool by his team following the Knights’ 11-5 victory over three-time defending champion Sacred Heart Prep in the Central Coast Section Division II finals last Saturday in San Jose. tion game ever looked.”

Menlo had given up nine goals to Sacred Heart Prep senior Philip Bamberg in a 12-11 sudden-death overtime loss in September. In a 10-8 overtime loss to the Gators in October, Bamberg scored twice. On Saturday, Menlo’s swarming defense held Bamberg to just a single goal.

Robert Dunlevie, the other half of the Gators’ potent one-two scoring punch, also was held to one goal.

“We focused on their two main shooters,” Hale said of Bamberg and Dunlevie.

“We almost played a 3-on-2, on Bamberg and Dunlevie,” Bowen said. Essentially, any time either SHP player got the ball, a second defender would slide over and make shooting difficult. “We sort of ran two separate zones. Those are two dangerous shooters.”

Hale and senior John HollandMcCowan turned out to be the

dangerous shooters. Hale tallied five goals and McCowan added three. Hale also had five steals, as did senior Jack Finch. McCowan had a pair of goals and Hale one as Menlo took a 4-1 lead. Bamberg and Dunlevie started the second quarter with their only goals to cut Menlo’s lead to 4-3. The Knights, however, then scored four unanswered goals on counterattacks to close the half with an 8-3 lead with Hale getting three of the scores.

“After Sacred Heart rallied, we played borderline flawless,” said Bowen, who got 15 saves from senior goalie Keegan Williams plus standout efforts from senior Kyle Bowman and juniors Wade Avery and Jack Lucas.

Menlo finished the season 18-9 with its sixth CCS title while SHP dropped to 19-10, failing to become the first Division II boys’ team to win four consecutive CCS crowns. N

Keith Peters

ick Hale was in the seventh grade when he sat in the concrete stands at Independence High in San Jose in 2006 and watched his brother, Matt, finish his senior season at Menlo School by winning a Central Coast Section Division II title.

“It definitely got me more excited about playing for Jack Bowen,” Hale said of Menlo’s coach.

Hale joined the Knights the next season but didn’t have the kind of success his brother did. In fact, Matt won three straight CCS titles before graduating and heading off to Princeton.

Menlo lost to Sacred Heart Prep in Nick Hale’s freshman season in 2008 and suffered through another disappointing loss to the Gators last season. The 2010 season also didn’t start off well for the Knights as they dropped a pair of overtime matches to Sacred Heart Prep.

Hale, and his teammates, evidently decided enough was enough.

The No. 2-seeded Knights ended the top-seeded Gators’ three-year hold on the CCS Division II trophy with a surprising 11-5 victory on a rainy Saturday morning at Independence High.

“It means so much to back in the championship game and beat them, after losing twice to them this season,” Hale said. “I was expecting a closer game, but we probably played our best game of the season.”

Bowen agreed.

“What you saw today was this group buying into being the best,” said Bowen, who enjoyed the ritual dunking despite the often frigid conditions. “We played our game plan to a T. Our team defense was absolutely phenomenal, and that’s the best our counter-attack transi-

Members of the Menlo School boys’ water polo team show off their CCS Division II trophy after avenging two earlier losses to SHP.

SHP senior girls bow out with a fourth consecutive section crown

by Keith Peters inning four straight Central Coast Section girls’ water polo titles is not easy. Since the sport began in 1996, only one team had accomplished that feat — St. Francis. Now, there are two.

Sacred Heart Prep pulled off the rare quad of section titles with a dominating 12-4 triumph over Castilleja on Saturday at Independence High in San Jose.

Top-seeded SHP (26-3) started the season ranked No. 1 in the section and finished that way. The Gators also didn’t lose to any CCS

W Keith Peters

Sacred Heart Prep girls’ coach Jon Burke prepares to make a triumphant splash after the Gators won their fourth straight Division II title.

Page 32ÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÈ]ÊÓä£äÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii Þ

competitor this season.

“We’re just really happy right now with this returning group,” said a drenched SHP coach Jon Burke, who enjoyed yet another ritual dunking that never seems to get old.

“Maintaining consistency over the course of three months and then the seniors getting a fourth championship . . . So, I’m excited about that.”

While Burke now has four CCS titles on his resume, this one might be the most enjoyable.

“This was so special,” he said.

“It’s a blue-collared group with no stars. We never got ahead of our-

selves. Every game was important.

We never looked down the road.”

The Gators did lose a lot of talent off last season’s team and returned only four seniors — Catherine Donahoe, Sarah Westcott, Emily Parsons and Ally Flessel. SHP did start the season as the No. 1 team, pretty much based on its CCS title.

The Gators didn’t have a lot of firepower to start, but the team grew as the season did and defense made a big difference.

“Defense has been the cornerstone (continued on next page)

Sports

2010 CCS Water Polo Championships

The seniors enjoy this title more Second section crown proves more meaningful for Menlo-Atherton girls

by Keith Peters

(continued from previous page)

of our team all season,” Burke said.

“We always stress the importance of playing good team defense and have spent a lot of time working on the various components. The team learns quickly and we have tried out a number of different things. This season, we have had some great individual performances by our defenders and goalie and they continue to help set the tone of the game for us.”

Sacred Heart beat St. Francis three times during the year along with two wins over Menlo-Atherton and Castilleja. The second win over Castilleja was by just a 6-4 count, which had Burke a little concerned.

“We struggled against them in October,” Burke said. So he implemented a new frontcourt offense that featured setting picks to open up room for the shooters. The players learned the new system in three weeks, during which they didn’t lose once.

After winning comfortably in the CCS semifinal on Wednesday,

Menlo-Atherton coach Chris Rubin (top left) shows off his award while his team shows off their trophy from winning the Central Coast Section Division I water polo title with a 6-5 triumph over St. Francis on Saturday in San Jose. It was the Bears’ second section title, the most by a girls’ public school team.

M-A and St. Francis also split their two matches against each other, the last victory going to the Bears.

“It gave us some confidence coming into today,” Rubin said. “This team just kept believing in themselves.”

Rubin said he and his players talked about what they had seen against St. Francis this season and planned accordingly.

“Obviously,” Rubin said, “I’m extremely happy.”

Rubin wasn’t smiling early, after the Lancers (18-9) grabbed a 2-0 Burke knew his team was right where it needed to be.

“We played well on Wednesday night, so a lot was not changing much,” he explained.

Sacred Heart grabbed a quick 3-0 leads on goals by junior Pippa Temple, Erin Sheridan and Westcott.

Sheridan scored twice more in the second quarter with Temple adding another tally while Parsons scored.

Junior Clare Rudolph scored the first of her three goals in the third to give the Gators a 8-0 lead before Castilleja senior Natasha von Kaeppler scored the first of her two goals.

It was too little too late for Castilleja (17-10) at that point.

Donahoe finished with 19 blocks and Temple had four goals. In fact, the SHP juniors tallied a combined 10 goals. Something for opponents to think about for the 2011 season.

“The team understands the importance of having good practices and being prepared for each game,” Burke said. “Their attention to this is one of the main reasons why we have had a successful season. The team puts forth a great effort each and every day.” N

lead in the first quarter. The Bears (18-9) battled back with O’Neill and junior Emily Gran scoring for a 2-2 match. From there, the score went back and forth —junior Brittany Krappe giving M-A a 3-2 lead before the Lancers tied it. O’Neill scored with 29 seconds before halftime for a 4-3 lead but the Lancers tallied nine seconds later for a 4-4 deadlock at halftime.

Kat Elward of St. Francis lobbed a shot over Dorst’s reach for a 5-4 advantage in the third quarter, but O’Neill knotted it again with her

third tally with 2:20 left in the third. Dorst prevented St. Francis from taking the lead again when she stopped a point-blank shot. With 6:41 left to play, M-A senior Shelby Fero found herself open on the perimeter and fired away, finding the back of the net for a 6-5 lead.

Dorst came up with her 15th block of the match with 53 seconds left .

“Scariest moment of the game,” Dorst said of that final minute. “I was like, ‘This cannot go into the goal. I need to block this now.’ “ The Bears took control, but even-

tually lost the ball. St. Francis blew its final opportunity to tie, making a bad pass. That allowed the Bears to take control and run out the clock.

“I kept telling everyone, we’re going to win this game,” said Dorst, who’ll play for Stanford next season while joining her sisters (Lindsay at Cal, Becca at UCLA) in the NCAA ranks. “We got off to a slow start, but it was a perfect ending.”

Menlo-Atherton is now the first public school to win two CCS titles.

Palo Alto (1999) and Lynbrook (1997) are the only other winners. N

Keith Peters

SHP girls

Keith Peters

E

mily Dorst and MJ O’Neill were wide-eyed freshmen in 2007 when the Menlo-Atherton girls’ water polo team captured its first-ever Central Coast Section Division I title. Neither really knew what to expect as older teammates led the way to the championship.

Three years since that first title, Dorst and O’Neill returned to the same pool at Independence High in San Jose and provided the senior leadership as the Bears captured their second section crown with a 6-5 triumph over St. Francis on Saturday.

“This means a lot more,” Dorst said while comparing the two section titles. “It didn’t seem that big of a deal my freshman year. As a freshman I thought this happened every year, but no, you have to work to win the CCS championship. It’s 10 times better this year. I’m loving it.’’

The Bears came into the postseason as the top seed in Division I, but any number of teams could have claimed it as No. 2 Leland, No. 3 St. Francis and No. 4 Gunn all had solid seasons. In fact, M-A and St. Francis defeated Gunn and Leland, respectively, with identical 4-3 scores in the semifinals.

But if anyone had an edge, it was M-A. The Bears, after all, had lost to the Lancers in the previous two CCS finals — both in overtime.

Thus, there was the revenge factor.

Sacred Heart Prep coach Jon Burke and his team proudly show off their fourth consecutive CCS Division II championship trophy following a 12-4 victory over No. 3 seed Castilleja last Saturday in San Jose. *> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÈ]ÊÓä£äÊU Page 33

Sports at 3 p.m. Friday, will only advance to the NCAA tournament if it can win the MPSF event. Should the Cardinal win in the first round, it would mean a rematch with the Bears, who are all but guaranteed a berth in the Final Four, to be held in Berkeley.

Stanford dropped a 9-6 decision to Cal in last weekend’s Big Splash.

STANFORD ROUNDUP

Women’s hoops (3-0) survives a tough trip Cardinal returns home to face South Carolina, Texas; Volleyball team closes out regular season at home Friday

by Rick Eymer

S

Women’s volleyball Fourth-ranked Stanford (13-3, 22-3) won’t be getting the Pac-10’s automatic berth into the NCAA tournament. It can still get a No. 1 seed by finishing the regular season

PALO ALTO COMMUNITY MEETING Attend an informational meeting on Eleanor Pardee Park Eucalyptus Trees Wednesday, December 1, at 7 PM Lucie Stern Community Center Fireside Room, 1305 Middlefield Road A community meeting has been scheduled to discuss the conceptual tree replanting plans for Eleanor Pardee Park. At this meeting residents will have the opportunity to ask questions and comment on the conceptual plans.

Please note that a follow-up community meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, December 8, at 7 PM at the Lucie Stern Community Center Fireside Room.

Comments from the meeting on December 1 will be incorporated into a revised conceptual plan. Staff will review this revised conceptual plan with the public on December 8.

You may review the Consulting Arborist Report on Eleanor Pardee Park Eucalyptus trees at www.cityofpaloalto.org or call (650) 496-6950 for more information.

Meeting hosted by City of Palo Alto Community Services and Public Works Departments Page 34ÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÈ]ÊÓä£äÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii Þ

Dani Vernon/stanfordphoto.com

tanford women’s basketball coach Tara VanDerveer will be seeing a lot of familiar faces on the opposing bench this weekend when South Carolina and Texas come to town for nonconference contests.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley and Gamecocks’ assistant coach Nikki McCray played for the United States’ Olympic gold-medal team, coached by VanDerveer, in 1996.

There are women’s basketball aficionados who feel strongly that was the greatest team ever produced by the Americans. VanDerveer won’t argue, although she’s not one to compare and contrast either. She talks fondly of working with players like Staley and McCray.

South Carolina visits Friday for a 1 p.m. tipoff while the Longhorns, coached by former Duke mentor Gail Goestenkors, comes to town Sunday for a 12:30 p.m. televised start.

Goestenkors served as an assistant for the 2008 Olympic team that won gold.

Third-ranked Stanford (3-0) returns to comfortable surroundings after surviving a road trip that included wins over Utah, 62-53, and Gonzaga, 84-78.

Nnemkadi Ogwumike did not play against the Utes because of an unspecified medical condition and then scored 21 points and grabbed 14 rebounds against the Bulldogs.

Ogwumike had several fingers on her right hand wrapped. She made just 8 of 22 shots.

VanDerveer said the wraps were for a knuckle injury, and not related to why Ogwumike missed the Utah game.

Stanford has held all three of its opponents under 40 percent shooting this season. Gonzaga made just 28 of 80 shots, for 35 percent.

Stanford has played, and beaten, the Gamecocks twice. The Cardinal visited South Carolina two years ago as a part of a trip that included losses to Duke and Connecticut.

Kayla Pedersen had 15 points and 16 rebounds at the Colonial Life Arena Dec. 19, 2008. Ogwumike and Jeanette Pohlen also started that game.

The Gamecocks have two starters back from that contest, along with a reserve. Sophomore Ieasia Walker was still in the midst of an outstanding high school career on Long Island. She leads South Carolina with a 15.3 scoring average.

The Gamecocks (2-2) are coming off a loss at Penn State, but beat Illinois and Clemson. They’ve also lost to fifth-ranked Xavier.

No. 16 Texas (3-0 entering Wednesday’s game against Idaho State) averages 98.7 points on the season, with junior Ashleigh Fontenette leading the way at 21.5 points and followed by senior Kathleen Nash at 20 points a game.

The rebounding of Kayla Pedersen (14) and Jeanette Pohlen (23) will be key this weekend when Stanford host South Carolina and Texas. strong.

The Cardinal faced No. 20 Arizona Wednesday night and finishes the regular season with Senior Night against Arizona State on Friday ay 7 p.m.

Stanford lost to California in four games last Friday, dropping into sole possession of second place in the Pac-10. Alix Klineman had 24 kills and 11 digs while Cassidy Lichtman added 12 kills, 10 digs and 24 assists.

Unless there’s some weird kinetic energy in the universe, Cal will win its first-ever women’s volleyball title and will likely host the first two rounds.

Stanford could also host depending upon the rest of the nation. Selection show is Sunday at noon on ESPNews.

Men’s basketball Stanford opened its season with three consecutive home victories and is now on its first road trip, participating in the 76 Classic at the Anaheim Convention Center.

The Cardinal (3-0) opened against Murray State on Thursday night.

The Racers (2-1) reached the second round of the NCAA tournament last year after winning 31 games.

Stanford will meet either Tulsa or UNLV on Friday. The finals are scheduled for Sunday.

Jeremy Green scored 21 points in Stanford’s 92-49 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Sunday. He also scored 21 in last Thursday’s 8160 victory over Virginia.

Green leads the Cardinal with a 14.7 scoring average while Andrew Zimmerman is second at 10.0. Josh Owens has 5.3 rebounds a game to lead Stanford.

Men’s water polo Fifth-ranked Stanford needs to regain its swagger to have a chance of winning the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament, which opens Friday morning at Avery Aquatic Center.

The Cardinal (13-7) snapped defending national champion USC’s winning streak earlier in the season in its home pool but has lost seven times by a combined 15 goals, or by 2.1 a game.

Stanford, which meets UC Irvine

PALO ALTO CITY COUNCIL CIVIC CENTER, 250 HAMILTON AVENUE BROADCAST LIVE ON KZSU, FM 90.1 CABLECAST LIVE ON GOVERNMENT ACCESS CHANNEL 26 ***************************************** THIS IS A SUMMARY OF COUNCIL AGENDA ITEMS. THE AGENDA WITH COMPLETE TITLES INCLUDING LEGAL DOCUMENTATION CAN BE VIEWED AT THE BELOW WEBPAGE: http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/knowzone/agendas/council.asp (TENTATIVE) AGENDA- STANDING COMMITTEE MEETINGS The Policy and Services Committee Meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 30, at 7:00 p.m. regarding 1) Discussion of Policy & Services Annual Schedule, Retreat, and Priorities Cycle The High Speed Rail Committee Meeting will be held on Thursday, December 02, at 8:00 a.m.

Cross Country Chris Derrick and Jake Riley finished fifth and sixth in the individual race but the top-ranked Stanford men’s cross-country team could not overcome the depth of second-ranked Oklahoma State, which successfully defended its NCAA title Monday at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute, Ind. Liberty’s Sam Chelanga became a two-time national champion, completing the 10,000 meter race in 29:22.2. Derrick raced 29:44.7 and Riley finished in 29:45.0.

The championships were held in gale force winds, with gusts that exceeded 30 miles an hour, creating slower times and tighter packs.

“I had to take a different strategy because of the wind,” Chelanga said. “It was a good day to run conservatively.”

Stanford finished fourth as a team with 237 points. Oklahoma State won the title with 73 points, followed by Florida State and Wisconsin.

“We went into the meet in the position to compete for the title,” Stanford coach Jason Dunn said.

“We just didn’t get it done. Chris and Jake did a great job running up front.”

Elliott Heath also ran in that pack, but was unable to hold the pace for the full 10,000 meters. The senior fell to 42nd with a time of 30:35.5.

Stanford, which won the Pac-10 championship and finished second in the NCAA West Regional, ran 10th at the national meet last year.

Derrick was third.

Derrick and Riley remained in front of the second pack, but three Oklahoma State runners finished close behind.

“You need five to run well on the day,” Dunn said. “Today we just didn’t have that. It is very disappointing.”

Villanova won the women’s race with 120 points and Wildcats’ senior Sheila Reid won the individual title over the 6,000 meter race, running a 20:06.9.

Florida State finished second and Texas Tech was third. The Cardinal women placed 13th with 402 points.

“It was really windy,” Reid said.

“I could feel it into the wind.”

The Cardinal had some unfortunate luck with Kathy Kroeger being unable to finish the race because of injury.

Kroeger was the Pac-10 runnerup and had been Stanford’s No. 1 runner at every meet this year. Her absence cost Stanford a spot in the top 10.

In Kroeger’s absence, Stephanie Marcy stepped up to assume the duties of the No. 1 runner. Marcy was the No. 1 at last year’s NCAA meet where she finished 53rd. This year she placed 55th in a time of 21:02.4. N

Sports CCS FOOTBALL

Paly will be ready for Bells this time

by Keith Peters t was an inglorious finish to the 2009 prep football season when Palo Alto bowed out with a 34-6 loss to visiting Bellarmine.

The weather was lousy and so were the Vikings as the Bells took their first step toward an eventual second straight Central Coast Section Open Division championship.

I

So, here we are again. It’s Palo Alto against Bellarmine in the CCS Open Division playoffs. However, Paly coach Earl Hansen believes that’s the only similarity to last season. “We have better players,� said Hansen, when asked if 2010 will be a repeat of 2009. “We know them (the Bells) better. Offensively, we can move the ball. And, we have better running backs.�

And that’s not all. Palo Alto was 7-1-2 a year ago while opening the playoffs as the No. 4 seed. The Vikings are now 11-0 and the No. 1 seed while heading into Friday’s semifinals at San Jose City College.

Kickoff is 7 p.m.

Bellarmine (9-2) is seeded No. 5 again while coming off a 38-6 spanking of Oak Grove in last weekend’s opening round. “Oak Grove did not know how to defend them,� said Hansen, whose team was ranked No. 14 in the state this week by Cal-Hi Sports.

Hansen believes his team not only knows how to defend the Bells, but that the Vikings are better equipped offensively, too.

Quarterback Christoph Bono did not play in last year’s game while recovering from an injury. This season he has completed 130 of 195 passes (.667 percent) for 2,066 yards and 24 touchdowns.

T.J. Braff, who replaced Bono at quarterback for half the season in ‘09, is back at wide receiver and defensive back. He has caught 15 passes for 172 yards in addition to being the team’s leading tackler with 132, 34 of them unassisted. “T.J. is a weapon now,� said Hansen.

Wide receivers Davante Adams and Maurice Williams are more explosive and dangerous this season, as well, on both sides of the ball.

Adams has 53 receptions for 941 yards and nine touchdowns, perhaps his biggest coming last week when he caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from Bono with 35 seconds left to play to give Paly a 13-10 comefrom-behind victory over Mitty in

a playoff opener.

Williams has 20 catches for 523 yards and eight scores. He also has two interceptions and has scored 60 points while Adams has 54.

They’ve combined for 114 of Paly’s 336 points this season, an average of 30.5 per game.

Paly’s running backs have been equally as productive. Junior Dre Hill has a team-leading 821 yards on 106 carries (a 7.75 average) and junior B.J. Boyd has gained 515 yards on 60 hauls (an 8.58 average). Hill has scored a team-high 72 points with Boyd adding 36. Neither player was in Paly’s backfield last season against Bellarmine. “We feel more prepared,� Hansen said of Friday’s rematch, “and they’re not as good as last year. But, they’re still very athletic.�

The run-oriented Bells are led by senior breakaway threat Kris Olugbode, who had 124 yards and three touchdowns against Oak Grove. Bellarmine averages 217 yards rushing per game, but only 67 passing. “They haven’t changed a bit,�

Hansen said of the Bells’ style of play. “They want everyone to adjust to them.�

Hansen said the key to Friday’s game will be pass protection. If Bono is given time to find a receiver, odds favor he will. In last year’s game, Hansen said Braff didn’t get protected that well.

Since Bellarmine plays in a league with teams that primarily run, Hansen is banking on the fact the Bells haven’t faced too many passers like

Richard C. Ersted

Vikings put 11-0 mark on the line Friday night in semifinals at San Jose City College

Palo Alto quarterback Christoph Bono (13) kept it on the ground much of last Friday’s rainy CCS opener against Mitty, but Bono did go to the air with 35 seconds to play for a game-winning 21-yard TD pass.

Bono. In fact, the last time Bellarmine faced a good thrower (Mitty’s Kyle Boehm), the Bells dropped a 30-27 decision on Nov. 5.

Mitty gained 153 yards through the air and 258 on the ground in that victory, proving the Bells’ vulnerability on defense.

Now, all Palo Alto needs is to take advantage.The Vikings are one win away from tying the school record for most single-season victories (12), set in 2006 when Paly won the Open Division title and advanced to the Division II state finals.

Palo Alto is hoping to do that again, but will need 13 wins to accomplish that.

The Vikings kept their school-record winning streak alive last week against Mitty, in a game that came down to the final play.

Faced with a fourth-and-21 situ-

ation, the Vikings lined up for the all-or-nothing play before Mitty called time.

Hansen was able to see what defense the Monarchs were in and changed the play, moving Braff as a receiver on the left to tandem with Adams. With Williams on the right side, Hansen knew there was no way Mitty could double cover any one of his receivers. “We changed it (the play) so they couldn’t double our outside guy,� said Hansen, “and then Christoph threw a beautiful pass.�

With only single coverage, Adams was able to get free in the end zone and made the catch with plenty of room to spare. “He (Adams) came down with two feet in(bounds), and you only need one,� Hansen said. “He was in by at least a foot.�

“It was the best throw ever and the greatest catch I’ve ever made,� said Adams, who had five catches for 78 yards. “With the people we have, we can make anything happen. I know he had the confidence to make the throw and I was waiting for it.�

In the CCS Division IV semifinals on Saturday, No. 2 Sacred Heart Prep (9-2) will host No. 6 Menlo School (8-3) at noon. TheGators are coming off a 49-20 romp over No. 7 Seaside while the Knights upset No. 3 San Lorenzo Valley, 36-14. “We’re ready to play Menlo as we would any team,� said SHP defender Hunter Shaw. “We’d play as hard as we could no matter what. It’s the playoffs.�

Sacred Heart and Menlo met two weeks ago in the Valpo Bowl, with the Gators coming away with a 35-7 victory. N

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Sports

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Sonia Abuel-Saud, Sarah Daschbach Sacred Heart Prep Abuel-Saud, a sophomore, had 26 kills and 29 digs while Daschbach, a junior, produced 31 kills and 62 digs as the Gators’ volleyball team defeated No. 1 Soquel and then No. 2 Notre Dame-Belmont to win the CCS Division IV title.

EXPERIMENTAL

Catherine Donahoe Sacred Heart Prep water polo

Emily Dorst

CHALLENGES

Menlo-Atherton water polo

Maddie Kuppe Palo Alto volleyball

TO PROBING

MJ O’Neill

DARK ENERGY

Melanie Wade*

DECEMBER 2-3, 2010 MUNGER GRADUATE RESIDENCE Paul Brest Hall Building 4, 555 Salvatierra Walk Stanford, CA 94305

Menlo-Atherton water polo

Pippa Temple Sacred Heart Prep water polo Palo Alto volleyball

Davante Adams* Palo Alto football

Tim Benton Menlo football

Dre Hill* Palo Alto football

Pedro Robinson Sacred Heart Prep football

Jordan Williams* Menlo football

Keegan Williams Menlo water polo * previous winner

PUBLIC LECTURE DECEMBER 1, 2010, 7:30PM CUBBERLEY AUDITORIUM School of Education 485 Lasuen Mall Stanford, CA 94305

DARK ENERGY AND THE PREPOSTEROUS UNIVERSE SEAN CAROLL California Institute of Technology

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The junior had four goals and eight steals as the Knights dunked Los Altos in the semifinals before scoring five goals to go with five steals and excellent defense in an 11-5 victory over defending champ Sacred Heart Prep in the CCS Division II water polo finals.

Honorable mention

AND THEORETICAL

WORKSHOP

Nick Hale Menlo School

To see video interviews of the Athletes of the Week, go to www.PASportsOnline.com

Prep volleyball (continued from page 31)

ingly, the Vikings only dropped the one match to Los Gatos in SCVAL De Anza Division play. Having Kuppe back on Saturday changed everything. “It was the first time everyone was together since the end of September,� Winn said. “We weathered the storm, through all the injuries . . . We felt like we were ourselves again.�

Palo Alto never allowed M-A any momentum, even after the Bears grabbed a 5-1 lead in Game 2. Junior Melanie Wade served three of her six aces, the last one tying the match at 6. Senior Megan Coleman served an ace for 9-7 and Kuppe did likewise for a 12-8 lead. The Vikings continued to serve well, closing out the game with an ace.

Game 3, much like Game 1, was all Palo Alto. Caroline Martin served up a 4-0 lead, a kill by Kuppe made it 10-3, senior Trina Ohms aced the Bears for a 17-11 lead and Whitson blocked for a 1912 bulge. It was over as quickly as it had started. “I knew we could play that well,

just not on the big stage,� Winn said. “When we play that well, I don’t think anyone can beat us.�

Wade finished with 10 kills (hitting .421) with four digs and two blocks plus her six aces. Kupple contributed 11 kills (.300) with three aces, two blocks and two digs.

Ohms added seven kills and six digs while Martin had five kills and seven digs. Whitson had 32 assists, seven digs and two blocks, senior Megan Coleman finished with 18 digs and junior Jackie Koenig had three kills and three blocks, including the match-winning solo block. “It just wasn’t the Melanie show today,� said Winn, who walked onto the court following the final point with his arm’s upraised. “I’ve been thinking about this for a long time.

I’m going to cherish it.�

His players will, too, but they just didn’t show it that much in the postgame celebration. There was no dog pile and Winn didn’t get any bucket of water dumped on him. Perhaps it was because the Vikings know the journey is not complete. “We just made history, but I think they realize there’s more,� Winn said. “They’re very goal-driven kids. We’re really hungry to make it to state.� N

NCAA soccer

They are too many threats on our team to think someone can stop us by stopping one or two people.�

The NCAA tournament is a perLevin said as the top-ranked Cardi- fect example. Press took 25 shots nal (21-0-2) prepares for its NCAA before recording her first postseaElite Eight match against visiting son goal, which came last Friday in Florida State on Friday at 7 p.m. a 3-0 win over UCLA in the Sweet “I’m never 100 percent sure where Sixteen. Of course, she only needed I’ll be playing. But I’m used to that. two more shots to record her secI spent my whole life on a club team ond. playing numerous positions.�

Five different players scored Levin helped the Stanford defense goals, and four others recorded an record 13 shutouts and allow a total assist before Press got on the scoreof 11 goals, or 0.467 per game, third board. in the nation.

Alina Garciamendez has started Offensively Levin 23 games for the ranks second with 10 Cardinal, but other assists, behind Palo goal scorers Sydney Alto grad Teresa NoyPayne, Taylor McCaola’s 12. Levin is fifth nn, Nina Watkins and with 12 points.

Marjani Hing-Glover Considered the best combined to start six tackler on the team, games this season.

Levin can also exPayne and Levin ploit an opponent’s each have two assists defensive weakness in the tournament, and make a run to the while Noyola, Quon goal. and Annie Case also She may be part of have points. In fact, 17 the best trio of players different players have 5-foot-3 in the nation Camille Levin at least two points on together with Quan the year. and Noyola. “Winning games starts with our “I can’t say enough about Christen defense,� Levin said. “Our back Press, who is one of the best play- line may have changed a few times ers in the country and scores a ton but overall everyone has done an of goals,� Levin said. “But I think amazing job. Courtney has been a lot of teams feel that if they stop great transitioning back there and her, it gives them a better chance has been extremely solid. I know of winning. We have other talented people think more about scoring but players who have stepped up and if that does not take away from how one doesn’t score, another one will. great the defense has been, and is, (continued from page 30)

doing.�

Florida State (16-5-1) ranks 24th in goals against, with an average of 0.697, a little above average compared to the others still remaining.

Only Stanford, Notre Dame (11th) and Ohio State (15th), which plays each other this weekend, have better GAA percentages.

Stanford also ranks third in scoring offense with 67 goals (2.91), while the Seminoles are 33rd with 42 goals (2.00). “If we can get the ball and make them spend energy defending us that will help,� Florida State coach Mark Krikorian said. “If we let them dictate the tempo then it will be harder for us. We’re looking to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner in California and see how it goes.�

Florida State reached its sixth consecutive Elite Eight by beating Marquette, 3-0, last weekend. The Seminoles are hoping to reach the College Cup a fourth time and for the first time since reaching the national championship match in 2007. “It’s whoever is better that day,�

FSU senior midfielder Rachel Lim said. “If we lose, they were better that day. If we win, we were better that day. We can only focus on our strengths.�

Florida State and Stanford have played five common opponents: North Carolina, Duke, Boston College, Georgia (exhibition for FSU) and Washington State. The Seminoles were 3-1-1 against them and the Cardinal finished 3-0-2, which includes an overtime win.

Jim Shorin/stanfordphoto.com

Sports

National scoring leader Christen Press celebrated twice last weekend with a two-goal outing in a 3-0 NCAA victory over UCLA. Stanford has already played three of the last eight teams remaining, and should the Cardinal advance to the College Cup, would face either Boston College or Washington in the national semifinals.

Stanford has also played Georgetown, and faced Notre Dame as recently as last year. The Cardinal has never played Oklahoma State or Ohio State and will be meeting Florida State for the first time. N

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Sports

Stanford football (continued from page 30)

was more about belief and changing the culture.”

Harbaugh arrived and began working on the team’s mindset from the start.

“He forced people to start believing we can win,” Sherman said.

“That was definitely part of it. You always hope for something like this, getting to a BCS bowl or the national championship and getting the crystal ball. We’re in that position now and it’s an amazing feeling.”

The Beavers, who opened the season ranked 22nd in the AP poll,

are also playing for their postseason lives. Oregon State’s remaining games are against Stanford and at home against top-ranked Oregon.

One victory will clinch a bowl game for the Beavers, who currently have the fifth-most difficult schedule.

Oregon State has gone to bowl games in each of the past four seasons and hopes to extend that streak.

The Beavers already have lost to TCU and Boise State, but beat then 9th-ranked Arizona and took care of USC last week. In the middle of all that are bad losses at Washington and UCLA and at home against Washington State.

“They took it to us up in Corvallis,” Stanford quarterback Andrew

Luck reminded people. “They’re capable of beating anybody.”

Stanford doesn’t have a good recent history with the Beavers either.

Oregon State has won nine of the past 13 meetings.

Oregon State will be without senior receiver James Rodgers, but will still have the dynamic running back Jacquizz Rodgers, who eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark for the third time in three years with a big game against the Trojans.

“They have weapons,” Sherman said. “It might be a different dynamic but they still do a great job. Quiz has a low center of gravity and runs hard. He’s a bundle of strength.”

Rodgers rushed for 189 yards

and scored four touchdowns in last year’s win, leaving quite an impression on Stanford’s returning defensive players.

“He’s the key to stopping Oregon State,” Fua said. “It will take the whole defense because he can take any play and reverse it all the way to the other side of the field. He can score on any play. You have to get low to tackle him and you can’t arm tackle because he’ll just break through your arms.”

Harbaugh, who brought his twoyear daughter Addison to Tuesday’s press conference, calls Rodgers “one of the top three or four players in the Pac-10.”

The Beavers also have one of the

defensive linemen in the country in senior tackle Stephen Paea, a semifinalist for the Bednarik Award.

“He’s just so strong, fast and physical,” said Luck, one of three finalists for the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award with Auburn’s Cam Newton and Boise State’s Kellen Moore.

“You have to know where he is at all times and is blocked,” Harbaugh said. “He is a tremendous football player.”

Harbaugh has Oregon State connections with his 21-year-old son Jay Harbaugh serving as a student assistant for the Beavers under head (continued on next page)

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Sports

7HAT SCHOOL IS MEANT TO BE

Bob Drebin/stanfordphoto.com

#HALLENGING %NGAGING *OYFUL 5PPER 3CHOOL /PEN (OUSE PM PM 7BMQBSBJTP "WFOVF "UIFSUPO $" t s XXX NFOMPTDIPPM PSH

Richard Sherman (right) was the teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading receiver his freshman year when Stanford was 1-11. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s now a defensive back for a 10-1 team. (continued from previous page)

coach Mike Riley, for whom Jim Harbaugh played when both were with the San Diego Chargers in 1999-2000.

Big Game blowout The 113th annual last weekend Big Game turned into the Big Blow Out, with seventh-ranked Stanford handing host California its worse home loss in a long, long time.

Luck threw two touchdown passes and led Stanford to scores on all eight possessions he played as the Cardinal beat the Bears, 48-14, for its most lopsided win in the rivalry in 80 years.

Luck completed 16 of 20 passes for 235 yards and added 72 rushing yards. Stepfan Taylor ran for three scores as the Cal defense, which shut down No. 1 Oregonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s highpowered spread offense in a 15-13 loss just one week ago, had no answers for Luck and the Cardinalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s power game.

For Luck, it was a measure a matter of personal pride. He completed

just 10 of 30 passes and threw a game-sealing interception deep in Cal territory with just over a minute left in last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 34-28 loss at Stanford. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I definitely had some motivation coming off last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disappointment,â&#x20AC;? Luck said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;That being said, it was a new year and you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really dwell on the past too much. But I did get a little extra motivation from that experience.â&#x20AC;?

About the only fight California mustered was delivered just before the pregame coin toss, when the Bears ventured onto the field as a group for some trash talking. Once the game was underway, Stanford had all the answers and refused to share. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our guys really kept their cool and I think that was a big difference,â&#x20AC;? Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They kept their poise. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t like that kind of football where you try and talk and intimidate. Just play football. Shut up and play football.â&#x20AC;?

Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what the Cardinal did to win for just the second time in the past nine games against the Bears. N

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