Around Town Around Town (February 16, 2005)

ONCE A JOURNALIST . . . Move over, William Safire ; a new eagle-eyed linguist has hit newsprint -- er, cyberprint. In the latest neighborhood e-newsletter from Elaine Meyer , president of University South Neighborhood Association , the former journalist turns a critical -- and playful -- eye to local ads. In a section titled "About Language," Meyer writes: "The advertisement for a prefix dinner is back! But it has improved: It is now a pre-fixe dinner. Optimists that we are, we celebrate progress, no matter how modest." She continues: "More cause for celebration: An auto dealer invites the public to a 'special advance peak ' at their new cars. Best to wear your hiking boots." Finally, she expresses self-restraint later in her e-missive, sharing the following: "Mini-scandal (which is better than no scandal at all): We would never write anything like this, but a mini-scandal has erupted in London over a possible quote from an e-mail sent by a former spokesman for the PM [Prime Minister]. It read: 'F*** off and cover something important you twits!' I repeat, we would never, ever, write such a thing to our newspapers." We're hoping not, Elaine.

THE DAILY RUSE? . . . Speaking of journalistic integrity, San Mateo County Times reporter Justin Jouvenal unearthed an apparent case of plagiarism from a new Palo Alto Daily News reporter last month. In the Tuesday, Jan. 25 "Insider" column, Jouvenal wrote that: "More than half of the lead story in the Palo Alto Daily News on Monday was lifted virtually word for word from a New York Times piece that appeared two days earlier. The in-depth feature about a Palo Alto woman that was killed by an ex-member of the 'Church of God' cult appeared under the byline of News Staff Writer Jason Green and was titled 'Ex-cult member kills local.' The story did not credit the New York Times for the material, even though 19 of the story's 28 paragraphs appeared in a story by reporter Laurie Goodstein on Jan. 15 in The Times' national section." When Jouvenal contacted Green, he reportedly said "I'm new here," and referred all questions to his editor, Brian Bothun , who in turn referred questions to his publisher, Dave Price , who conveniently could not be reached for comment.

A SLICE OF LIFE . . . When Mike Gardner of Menlo Park received a pizza delivery recently, he got more than just a hot pie. Attached to the top of the box was a receipt with his name, address and his credit card number, plus the expiration date, making him a potential target for identity theft. Gardner contacted the local Round Table Pizza headquarters in Concord, but received no response. A subsequent pizza ordered by his wife had the same information in plain view, he said. Gardner also fished a discarded Round Table pizza box from his neighbor's trash, with the receipt still attached displaying name, address and full credit card information. "It's just so disturbing to me that something so simple to fix isn't even being addressed at the corporate office," he said. Local manager Bob Larson insisted that a new "thermal" anti-fraud system hadn't yet updated the printer, but that a solution was due soon. Meanwhile, Larson claimed his employees are blacking out the numbers with a felt pen on every order and routinely shred credit card numbers.

AMAZONKERS! . . . Want to travel down El Camino Real without leaving your computer? Check out Amazon.com 's latest innovation -- images of businesses that were taken by GPS-enhanced cameras. It's all part of A9, Amazon's attempt to enter the search engine market. Once you've found the business, you can also take a "walk" up and down the street, checking out the neighborhood. Palo Alto, along with other Bay Area cities, is only one area in the country that can currently use this feature, along with New York and Chicago.

STILL GOING STRONG . . . Formerly homeless grandmother Elaine Gondring continues to be off the streets and is living in a retirement center, according to her granddaughter-in-law Kelly Kitch . After stories about the 80- year-old teacher appeared in the Weekly, Palo Altans donated enough money for Gondring to put a deposit down on a studio apartment in Dallas, Texas. Gondring is still healthy, but pines for California, Kitch said. But there's another happy chapter in Gondring's life: she has become a great-grandmother, with a brand new baby granddaughter.

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