--Jocelyn Dong
Palo Alto goes Green in big numbers
In higher-than-expected numbers, Palo Altans are choosing the environment over their pocketbooks.
Around 1,000 community members have agreed to voluntarily slightly higher electric bills -- 1.5 cents more per kilowatt-hour -- in exchange for purchasing their energy from clean wind and solar power sources.
So far, 3.7 percent of Palo Alto Utilities' customers, agreed to sign onto the program, one of the fastest enrollments in the country for similar programs. That means that 8,062,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, and other harmful particulate matter, will be prevented from being released into the Earth's atmosphere annually. That's the equivalent of planting 962 acres of forest or not driving 9,069,000 miles a year.
The first large user to sign on was the Garden Court Hotel. "This is an excellent way for us to show our costumers that we value the environment without detracting from our guest's experience," said Barbara Gross, the hotel's general manager.
City of Palo Alto Utility customers can signs up for PaloAltoGreen, as the program is known, by sending an e-mail including their address and telephone number to paloaltogreen@cityofpaloalto.org or by calling (650) 329-2161.
Redwood City man pleads innocent to 'up skirt' filming
A Redwood City man pleaded innocent in a Santa Clara County Superior Court Tuesday to 17 counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly using a complicated camera system to videotape under women's skirts during the Concours d'Elegance classic car show held at Stanford University in June.
James Rich, 55, was arrested at the Concours d'Elegance after a man alerted police that Rich was acting suspiciously. Officers searched Rich and found wires running from a fanny pack, down his leg to an ankle brace and then through a hole in his sock to a lens attached to his shoe, according to Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Leigh Frazier.
"He has a level of sophistication here. The case might seem like a prank or not a case that's that big of a deal, but there are several women who were victimized," Frazier said Tuesday.
Rich was released from jail after posting bail but appeared in the Palo Alto courtroom to respond to the 17 counts of the newer disorderly conduct charge of using instrumentality to view under or through clothing with the intent to gratify lust and invade the privacy of others, Frazier said. The charges stem from the car show arrest and footage found by investigators of similar incidents from a Sears store in Cupertino.
Another man was in the Palo Alto courtroom Tuesday charged with the same crime. Frazier said "up skirt" filming is gaining in popularity online and getting much more sophisticated. She said the cases are the first she has prosecuted with this kind of advanced technology.
"These were not consensual encounters and the women involved did not know that they were being photographed in such an embarrassing way," Frazier said.
Rich will return to court on Aug. 28 where Frazier said she plans on filing additional charges.
-- Bay City News Service
