Publication Date: Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Digest
Digest
(June 01, 2005)
One killed, three wounded in EPA
A Memorial Day gathering was shattered by gunfire late Monday afternoon in East Palo Alto, leaving one man dead and three others wounded.
The four shooting victims were in the garage and driveway area of a house in the 1500 block of Kavanaugh Drive when neighbors heard gunshots ring out at 4:59 p.m., said Sgt. Linda Gibbons of the San Mateo County Sheriff's Department Major Crimes Unit.
Dwayne Anthony Henry, 35, of Menlo Park was pronounced dead at the scene. Three other people were transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Gibbons said. Their names are being withheld for security reasons.
Witnesses said a person wearing a mask walked up to the house and began shooting at the men and then ran away, Gibbons said.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Detective Gary Ramos at (650) 363-4064, Gibbons at (650) 363-4063 or the anonymous witness line at (800) 547-2700.
Man arraigned for alleged hit and run
A Los Altos man suspected of striking and critically injuring a bicyclist in an allegedly alcohol-fueled crash in Palo Alto last Wednesday was arraigned Friday, according to Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Deborah Baldocchi.
Craig Borlik, 40, has been charged with two felony counts of driving under the influence, one felony count of hit-and-run and one felony count of child endangerment. The charges carry with them several enhancements, setting the maximum possible sentence at 12 years in state prison.
Borlik was allegedly driving his Ford Expedition with his 3-year-old son inside in the 400 block of West Charleston Road around 4 p.m. when he ran a red light. According to police, Borlik allegedly struck a 72-year-old bicyclist who was crossing the road and then fled the scene.
However, Borlik was discovered a short time later in the 1400 block of El Camino Real, passed out in front of a home with his son still strapped inside the car. His vehicle was found to have front-end damage and investigators determined it was likely the vehicle in the accident.
Although Borlik's alleged level of intoxication at the time of the accident is unknown, one of the charge enhancements is for driving with a blood alcohol level above .20.
Baldocchi said the other enhancements include driving under the influence of alcohol with a passenger under the age of 14 and causing great bodily injury to a person over the age of 70, which adds a maximum of five years to Borlik's possible sentence.
He is scheduled to enter a plea on June 3.
The bicyclist remains in critical condition at Stanford Hospital with two broken legs, a broken pelvis and internal injuries, police officials said.
-- Bay City News Service
Palo Alto settles PG&E electrical claims
Palo Alto electrical rate increases next year could be significantly lower than expected due in part to a $4.22 million refund the city will get in a new settlement of a 2004 claim by PG&E, city officials announced Thursday.
Next year's increase could be about 11.5 percent instead of the originally recommended 19.5 percent.
Palo Alto and nine other cities that own utility systems have settled for less than half a $26.2 million claim against them by PG&E for retroactive back payments under a "scheduling coordinator service," covering from April 1998 through August 2002. The settlement agreement calls for a $12.9 million payment to PG&E, meaning the cities will get the difference back from an escrow account.
Palo Alto has put about $720,000 a month for the past year into an account of the Northern California Power Agency (NCPA), for a total of $8.5 million. The $4.22 million is Palo Alto's remainder after the settlement funds have been taken out, City Councilman Bern Beecham announced Thursday afternoon shortly after an NCPA Commission meeting in Lodi.
Beecham is Palo Alto's representative on the commission.
He said instead of a 19.5 percent electrical rate increase recommended by city utility officials, the settlement could mean that only a 11.5 percent increase will be needed. But that will also reflect a "leveling" of increases over a three-year period, not just the $4.22 million return. The earlier recommended increases were for 19.5 percent next year, followed by 5 percent the following year and more the year after that to reach 11 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh).
The 2004-05 rate was 7.87 cents kWh. The 11.5 percent increase would raise that to 8.77 cents next year instead of the 9.4 cents originally recommended with the 19.5 percent jump. The rate would go to 9.8 cents in 2006-07 and then level off at 11 cents in 2007-08 and two subsequent years. That rate compares to an equivalent PG&E rate of 13 cents kWh in communities around Palo Alto, Ulrich told the City Council's Finance Committee Thursday night.
In 2002, PG&E issued a surprise demand for $50.1 million in retroactive payments for services involved in scheduling the flow of electricity to the interconnected cities in an NCPA "power pool." Negotiations reduced that by early 2004 to $21.3 million, and interest since swelled it to the $26.2 million.
The cities through NCPA contested the PG&E claim before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which still must approve the settlement, possibly at its June meeting, according to Palo Alto Utilities Director John Ulrich.
Details of the settlement negotiations are secret under FERC confidentiality rules, but Ulrich hinted at the cities' reasoning in a memo Thursday afternoon to the City Council, Utilities Advisory Commission and executive staff.
"Although it was believed that our position had merit, FERC has been making decisions favorable to the service providers during the transition to regional transmission organizations and has encouraged settlements between the disputed parties," he said.
"We will reduce our recommended (fiscal year 2005-06) electric rate increase to reflect this expected increase in revenues," he said.
Beecham called the settlement a good outcome from a good fight.
"We have struggled to defend our consumers' interests in a litigious environment," he said.
-- Jay Thorwaldson
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