Around Town Around Town (May 11, 2005)

OFFICERS MORE LIKE GENTLEMEN ... It's not your imagination -- Palo Alto's police officers are looking clean-shaven. All officers recently were required to shave their beards and -- gasp -- moustaches because they are being fitting for new masks and suits to protect them against potential emergency chemical hazards, according to Police Chief Lynne Johnson. The masks require a "tight-seal" around the mouth, thus the shaves, she noted. A few officers with long facial hair complained, the chief said, "but I think most people understand."

FEED YOUR MAILBOX ... Mail carriers in Palo Alto will be participating in a nationwide drive to collect food for families in need this weekend. The program is called Stamp Out Hunger -- get it? -- and locals can participate by leaving canned goods in their mailbox this Saturday, May 14. The National Association of Letter Carriers requests nothing out of date or in glass. The mail carriers will send the donations to a local food bank.

JOE'S JOURNEY ... Palo Alto's Chief Transportation Official Joe Kott recently spent three weeks in Perth, Australia and will be giving a lecture this week telling Palo Altans what he learned there. The trip was research for Kott's dissertation on "sustainable streets" he's writing, part of his enrollment in Murdoch University's Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy. The presentation, open to the public, will take place in the Palo Alto City Council Conference Room in City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.) on Friday from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m.

BARTON AND DIAMOND ... A public war of words between Palo Alto school board President John Barton and Palo Alto Daily News Executive Editor (and columnist) Diana Diamond escalated last week. The battles began on March 3 when Diamond printed a column about pay for local teachers, which Barton refuted with an op-ed posted on the Paly Voice Web site later in the month. Last Wednesday, Barton published another piece in the Weekly and -- finally -- Diamond attempted to set the record straight last Thursday in her third column on the subject. Phew! In the latest column, Diamond attempted to clear up Barton's "misrepresentations." However, she clearly lost a point when she got at least one fact clearly wrong in her refutation. She noted, under a section titled "Fact versus fiction:" "I did not say that Palo Alto teachers are paid more than those in neighboring districts." But, read her March 3 column and you'll see the statement, "While Palo Alto salaries are slightly higher than neighboring districts..." Hmm... Diamond also, ironically, misrepresented Barton's misrepresentation. She noted, "I did not call for the ending of the Tinsley program." But Barton never accused her of doing so, he just wrote that she argued the student-transfer program "could simply be ended." What Diamond originally wrote is that "it may be time to review the formula" that guides the program. Of course, that's not quite saying the program "could simply be ended," as Barton stated, so he also loses a point. The final score? Who knows -- we're guessing they'll be more rounds soon anyway. "I think integrity is important," Diamond wrote in the conclusion to her most recent column. "I certainly hope we have not gotten used to politicians who stretch the truth each day just to make a point -- or get some votes."

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