News Digest News Digest (January 14, 2005)

Discussion on garbage center delayed

Palo Alto city staff has pulled the plug on next week's City Council discussion of the city's controversial landfill property. According to Assistant City Manager Emily Harrison, the Public Works Department's report on the land at the end of Embarcadero Road, and its future, is not ready.

"It didn't get done," she said. "They gave me two drafts, both of which I had concerns about." Because of the complex nature of the issue, she said, "we want to be sure it's a positive discussion -- factual, not defensive."

The impending dump closure has sparked debate -- particularly among environmentalists -- over whether the landfill should turn into a park when it closes in 2011 or should be the site of a new garbage and recycling facility.

Various options for the facility, dubbed the "Environmental Services Center," have been proposed. One idea would use 19 acres of the Baylands property for garbage transfer, recycling, a drop-off point for household hazardous waste, and more.

Council will deliberate on the issue Feb. 7.
-- Jocelyn Dong

Three generations discuss 'meaning of King'

Three generations of black women in one Palo Alto family will discuss their perspectives on "The Impact of King's Dream in the 21st Century" Sunday afternoon at a Martin Luther King Jr. community celebration.

The event will be from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church, 625 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto.

The featured speaker will be Clayborne Carson, the Stanford University history professor who is director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Project at Stanford.

The three-generation perspective will feature Mabel Herring, the mother of Palo Alto City Councilwoman Hilary Freeman, along with Freeman and her daughter, Austinn.

A youth speaker, Corey Vinegar, from Costano School in East Palo Alto, will present an even younger person's perspective.

LaDoris Cordell, also a City Council member and assistant vice-provost for campus relations at Stanford, will be moderator. Singing will be by a community interfaith choir led by the Rev. Isaiah Jones of Covenant Presbyterian Church.

The event is co-sponsored by the Palo Alto Ministerial Association, the Peninsula Chapter of Links, Inc. Covenant Presbyterian Church, Jerusalem Baptist Church, First United Methodist Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The annual King celebration originated locally about 15 years ago in East Palo Alto, as an observance of a group called the Mid-Peninsula Task Group for Integrated Education, the year following the creation of a national holiday honoring King in 1986. The observances initially were held in private homes, then in Palo Alto and East Palo Alto churches until it became an annual observance at First United Methodist in 1997.

Nanny facing charges in death of toddler

A 26-year-old nanny from Tracy is facing charges of child abuse homicide in the death of a 22-month-old Palo Alto girl in her care, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Dan Nishigaya said that Claudia Gabrielle Granados appeared in court Tuesday. Her defense attorney, John Cahners, made his first appearance in the case and is set to review numerous pages of documents before Granados enters a plea.

According to Nishigaya, Palo Alto police responded at 9:19 a.m. on Sept. 14 to reports of an unresponsive child at a home at 836 Clarke Way. Emergency personnel discovered the child "limp and blue" and could not revive her. The child was taken to Lucile Packard Children's Hospital where she was pronounced dead the following day, Nishigaya said.

An investigation revealed that Granados served as nanny for the child's parents, William Howell and Denise Provost. The couple had left their home by 7:45 a.m. and left the infant in the care of Granados.

Less than two hours later, a neighbor called and reported the child as unresponsive, according to Nishigaya. Granados was not arrested until Dec. 21 as investigators awaited the results of an autopsy, which revealed that the child had died from severe blunt force trauma to the head.

Granados was the only person with the child at the time of the injury, described as a blow to the head so severe it likely rendered the child unconscious immediately, Nishigaya said.

Granados is currently being held on $1 million bail and is scheduled to enter a plea on March 1. She faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in state prison if convicted, according to Nishigaya.
-- Bay City News Service

Curb the kicking and screaming of kindergarten

It's a day parents dream about: their child's first day of school. For some, that day is coming this fall.

To help ease their concerns and answer their questions, the Palo Alto Unified School District will hold an upcoming kindergarten information meeting for parents preparing to send their young ones off to the institution of higher learning.

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Jan. 20 at Palo Verde Elementary School, 3450 Louis Road. Parents will receive registration packets and have the opportunity to ask questions.

For more information, call the district's Young Fives Coordinator, Sharon Keplinger, at 856-0833.
-- Alexandria Rocha

More local help for tsunami relief effort

To help the American Red Cross International Disaster Team, the Palo Alto Menlo Park Mothers' Club (PAMP) will hold a bake sale from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Trader Joe's in Menlo Park, 720 Menlo Ave. More than 60 members of the club are baking items for the sale.

In addition, PAMP will hold three upcoming restaurant nights where 20 percent of the sales go to victims.

On Jan. 17, those who want to join in should dine at Fresh Choice, either in Redwood City, Mountain View or at the Stanford Shopping Center; on Jan. 27, head to Chevy's in Redwood City, Mountain View or Foster City; and on Feb. 1, eat at Hobee's in Palo Alto's Town and Country Shopping Center.

Patrons should print out a flier from www.pampmothersclub.org to participate.
-- Alexandria Rocha

E-mail a friend a link to this story.