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Uncertainties mount for struggling Caltrain Friends of Caltrain group seeks public input to keep and modernize the Peninsula rail line by Sue Dremann
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acing the looming possibility that Caltrain could go bankrupt if other means of financing are not found, Friends of Caltrain — a grassroots group of riders, neighborhood groups, environmentalists and employers — will hold a community
meeting Saturday, Jan. 29, in support of the Peninsula’s beleaguered rail line. Caltrain is facing a $30 million deficit on a $100 million budget in the coming fiscal year. The rail line could cut all service except for peak
commuter hours as early as July if additional funding is not found, ending non-peak weekday service, weekend and special-events service. Seven stations would be closed and service south of San Jose would end, according to Sean Elsbernd, chair of the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board, which oversees Caltrain. He gave the dire prediction at a Silicon Valley Leadership Group summit held at Stanford University on Jan. 21. He is also scheduled to speak at
Saturday’s event in San Carlos. Currently, three transit agencies partially fund the rail service. Forty percent of Caltrain’s operating budget comes from San Mateo County’s SamTrans, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and San Francisco’s Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA). Budget cuts and reduced state funding of those agencies have led them to slash their subsidies of Caltrain, according to rail officials.
Fare revenues account for another 43 percent of funding. The remainder comes from a variety of sources that varies from year to year, according to Christine Dunn, Caltrain spokesperson. Friends of Caltrain wants the rail line to be financed independently and also modernized. If Caltrain were to shut down entirely or drastically cut service, (continued on page 9)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Jury to hear about accused murderer’s threats Judge allows prosecution to show jury evidence about Bulos Zumot’s alleged threats to kill girlfriend by Gennady Sheyner
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Veronica Weber
A hair-raising experience Roxana Peralta-Rawson, 9, holds onto a Van de Graaff generator, which creates static electricity, at the Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo during Science Night on Jan. 26. Science Night offered special exhibits and opportunities to pet the zoo animals, with proceeds benefiting Partners in Education.
EDUCATION
Pitching their products Seventh-grade girls go before venture capitalists to tout laptop skins, Scrabble necklaces by Chris Kenrick
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llie Caccamo is vice president for manufacturing of Silli Skinz, a startup that makes “protective coverings� for laptops. She’s also in middle school. Sunday night at the Computer History Museum, Allie and her fellow seventh-graders from The Girls’ Middle School in Mountain View will present their business plans to a panel of real venture capitalists in the school’s annual Entrepreneurial Night. This week the girls rehearsed their pitches at the school, practicing eye contact, speech clarity, graphic presentations, posture, messaging and more. “We first tried contact paper, but that resulted in air bubbles and left
residue on the laptops,� Allie explained, her voice amplified by a microphone. “Then we found vinyl cling film that sticks using static electricity ... leading to the flawless final product that we’re proud to present today.� In the rear of the room, teacher Tricia Kellison and parent volunteer Renate Steiner, both Palo Alto residents, offered professional tips. “The length is really good — you’ve done a great job cutting things out, but, Allie, you’re still reading,� Kellison said. “It’s a great script. You need to say it to the audience, not read it.� Can entrepreneurship be taught to middle-school girls? Will the experience of selling
homemade laptop covers or necklaces made from Scrabble pieces change the way they think? The leadership of The Girls’ Middle School is betting on it. The year-long Entrepreneurial Program has been mandatory for all seventh-graders since the independent school’s founding 12 years ago. “Young women are often excluded from the whole language of business, and this is an opportunity to get them started,� explained Kellison, who came to the school from Apple Computer when her daughter was a student there and now leads the Entrepreneurial Program. “Maybe they’ll look at the world a little differently. If they see something that’s needed, maybe they’ll say, ‘Oh, this could be me.’ “We like to say it’s about making a job, not getting a job.� At a Wednesday practice, each of the 16 girls in the room — all T-shirt-wearing vice presidents of manufacturing, marketing, communications or sales — had a crack at the microphone. A team called “Because We (continued on page 6)
n August 2009, about two months before her death, Jennifer Schipsi complained to Palo Alto police that her boyfriend, Bulos “Paul� Zumot, had just threatened to kill her, according to police evidence the prosecution plans to show at the San Jose trial. Schipsi, a 29-year-old real estate agent, allegedly told the police on Aug. 24, 2009, that Zumot had called her earlier that day and told her he would kill her. She said she feared for her life and described Zumot as having an “infatuation with murder,� according to the police reports. Schipsi’s conversations with Palo Alto officers are among those that Judge David A. Cena agreed Thursday to admit as evidence in Zumot’s arson-and-murder trial. Cena also agreed to allow the jury next week to hear testimony relating to a phone call between Schipsi and Leslie Mills, whose father owns a florist business that shares a building with Da Hookah Spot, a hookah lounge on University Avenue that Zumot owned. According to police reports, Schipsi called Mills in late August and left a voice mail saying that she had information about a tenant. Mills then spoke to her sister, Susan Diggle, who told her that Zumot threatened to burn down the building to collect insurance money. But when Mills called Schipsi back, Schipsi told her that she was no longer interested in discussing the subject. According to a police report, Schipsi told Mills that “Zumot threatened to kill and burn down Jennifer Schipsi’s house, if Jennifer talked to the police.� Cena ruled Thursday that these statements could be admitted into
evidence under a “hearsay exemptionâ€? that went into effect this year. The exemption, codified in Evidence Code section 1390, allows victims’ statements to be admitted as evidence even when the victim isn’t present as a witness — provided that the prosecution can demonstrate that the defendant had a motive to keep the victim from testifying. Another statement that Cena agreed to admit is one that Schipsi made to her friend Heather Winters. Schipsi had reportedly told Winters about Zumot’s desire to burn down the hookah lounge building. Winters was one of several witnesses to testify this week about the volatile relationship between Zumot and Schipsi. She said Wednesday that she saw Zumot on Oct. 17, 2009, two days after the fire, when he was playing cards at Da Hookah Spot. “I said, ‘Hi.’ He didn’t say anythingâ€? — including any mention of Schipsi’s death, Winters said of her Saturday-night encounter. Winters didn’t learn of the death until the following Monday, she told Deputy District Attorney Charles Gillingham. Winters also said that Schipsi had told her in August 2009, during an off-period in Schipsi’s on-and-off relationship with Zumot, that he was abusive and that she had a safe-deposit box that contained a note that said, “If anything happens to me, then Paul did it,â€? Winters said. “She called me and let me know,â€? Winters said of the note. Jacob Allen, a friend and former fiancè of Schipsi, who dated her for nine years before she began dating Zumot, also took the stand Wednesday and recounted a similar story (continued on page 7)
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