Our Town: Around Town

AN EASY DATE? . . . An English teacher at Gunn High School fell victim to April Fool's Day high jinks on Wednesday. The teacher had borrowed a bald and unclothed female mannequin worth $2,000 from Stanford University as a prop for his English class, according to Palo Alto Police Sgt. Tom De Stefano. After leaving the mannequin unattended for 10 minutes on the landing outside his classroom, the teacher returned to find his prop missing, De Stefano said. The police are seeking leads in the case, and so far have no suspects. No such women were spotted at any local teen hangouts over the weekend, either.

ELECTRIC CAR INVASION . . . If you saw a lot of strange, sleek sports cars Saturday afternoon on Arastradero and Page Mill roads west of Foothill Expressway, you weren't the only one. Over the course of three hours, a stream of 134 Peninsulans test drove GM's new EV-1--an electric sports car designed for a mass market. GM pledged to donate $200 per test drive to San Jose's Tech Museum of Innovation. The total donation came to nearly $27,000. The benefit was held at the Electric Power Research Institute on Hillview Avenue. GM began leasing the EV-1 through Bay Area Saturn dealers March 31. So, how did it drive? Like a charm: smooth, quiet, with plenty of pickup. But there's a drawback: Its range is only 50 to 90 miles.

REWIND AND RECYCLE . . . No longer do you have to just toss those broken videotapes, or those movies that you just can't bear to watch anymore. The Palo Alto Recycling Program has begun a pilot videotape recycling project, allowing residents to bring damaged or unwanted videos to two local stores for recycling. Video Regency at 2123 El Camino Real and Midtown Video at 2655 Middlefield Road will both accept up to 20 videotapes per visit. The stores will send the tapes to EcoMedia, a Southern California nonprofit company, which erases and rebuilds the tapes whenever possible. Most broken or unusable parts are recycled.

FEATHERS AND BLACK TIE . . . The time is now to buy tickets for Palo Alto's annual Black and White Ball. The theme is "Feathers and Frills, Celebrating 12 years in Full Plume." The ball, a benefit for a host of programs run by the Palo Alto Recreation Foundation, will once again be in the University Circle area of Palo Alto. Seven bands will play, while appetizers and dessert will be supplied by 22 local restaurants. Free shuttle service will be offered from Nordstrom at Stanford Shopping Center. Tickets can be purchased at the following places: The Concierge at Stanford Shopping Center, Lucie Stern Community Center, Holiday Inn Palo Alto and Spirals on University Avenue.

NAMES AND NOTES . . . Palo Alto resident Bill Reller has been named president of the Peninsula Open Space Trust's Board of Directors . . . The Palo Alto Public Art Commission has elected Kathryn Carleton as chair and David Levin as vice chair . . . Former Palo Alto City Council member Jean McCown has been named to head the real estate practice group at Ritchey Fisher Whitman & Klein . . . Ronald McDonald House Executive Director Honey Meir-Levi has been named the 21st Assembly District's "Woman of the Year" by Assemblyman Ted Lempert.

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