Community Notebook: Flight of Eagles: Troop 206 observes 50th year Community Notebook: Flight of Eagles: Troop 206 observes 50th year (September 07, 2005)

At least four generations of Menlo Park and Atherton families -- kids to great-grandparents -- came to Holy Trinity Episcopal Church on a recent Saturday to celebrate 50 years of Boy Scout Troop 206.

Chartered in 1954 by the late Frank Merrill of Atherton, Troop 206 has trained hundreds of local boys in scouts honor, merit badges, service projects, and outdoor activities from hiking and cooking, to whitewater rafting, skiing and rock climbing.

Close to a dozen of the Troop's Eagle Scouts came to the reunion, along with families.

Troop 206 has produced more than 150 Eagle Scouts, starting in 1964 with Frank Merrill Jr., who still lives in the family house.

Star of the show was Warren "It's Just Around the Bend, Boys" Storkman, the legendary scoutmaster and trip leader who spent almost 20 years introducing sometimes reluctant boys to adventure on treks and "Fifty milers."

Mr. Storkman is still leading groups to some of the most daunting mountains in the world, like Kilimanjaro in Kenya and the Himalayas in Nepal and Tibet. This fall he will lead a group on a trek around Mt. Kailash, Tibet's Holy mountain.
Renters look at buying a home

Steve Kim of Bank of America will talk about the "First Time Home Buyer Affordable Housing Program" at a meeting of the Menlo Park Renters Association on Wednesday, September 14.

The program is set to begin at 7:30 p.m. in the library at the First Baptist Church of Menlo Park, 1100 Middle Ave. at Arbor Road.

Elizabeth Lasensky of Menlo Park, who founded the association, asks those who are interested to sign up by e-mail at menloparkrenters-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
Simitian addresses energy issues

State Senator Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, will give the keynote address at the annual kickoff meeting of the South San Mateo County League of Women Voters from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, September 17, in Atherton.

Mr. Simitian, a member of the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee, will discuss how California can have a healthy electricity system that is reliable and fairly priced. The public is invited to attend. For information, call the league office at 325-5780 before Thursday, September 15.
Open space district hires two more rangers

The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District has appointed two new rangers to patrol its open space preserves. On August 25, the district's board of directors hired Peter Cook and Tracy Hammond, bringing its total number of peace officers to 22, said a spokeswoman.

Rangers' duties include maintaining trails and responding to violations, safety hazards, wildfires and emergency medical calls at the district's more than 50,000 acres of open space preserves.

Mr. Cook and Ms. Hammond are both graduates of the West Valley Parks Management Program.
Hidden Villa to honor Dolores Huerta

Dolores Huerta, the community activist who co-founded the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez in 1962, will be honored at the 10th annual Josephine and Frank Duveneck Awards Dinner, to be held at Hidden Villa on Saturday, September 10.

Ms. Huerta remembers meeting at Hidden Villa with Cesar Chavez, with whom she fought for workers' rights and rallying against conditions faced by farm workers. She continues to champion his legacy as president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation.

A former regent of the University of California, she is a recipient of the Eleanor D. Roosevelt Humanitarian Award and is on the Ladies Home Journal list of the 100 most important women of the 20th century.

Past recipients of the award honoring the late Josephine and Frank Duveneck include folk singer and social activist Joan Baez of Woodside and former state Sen. Byron Sher.

The "Starry Starry Night Dinner" will also honor Nan and Chuck Geshke of Los Altos, and Spanish-immersion teacher Kristina Underdal of Mountain View. Tom and Anne Livermore of Woodside chair the board of the farm, hostel and wilderness area left by the Duvenecks.

The dinner will take place from 5 to 9:30 p.m. at Hidden Villa in Los Altos Hills. Sterling Speirn, president of the Peninsula Community Foundation, will chair this year's event.

Tickets are $175 each, and sponsorship packages start at $2,500. For information or tickets, call Diane Hunt, Hidden Villa's director of development, at 949-8652.
Ann Johnson honored for restoring Carolands

Ann Johnson, who saved and restored the Carolands chateau in Hillsborough, will be honored at the History Makers 2005 dinner of the San Mateo County Historical Association on Thursday, September 22, at the Hotel Sofitel in Redwood City.

The long-vacant mansion, built by Pullman railroad car heiress Harriett Pullman Carolan to entertain visitors to the 1915 San Francisco Pan Pacific Exposition, seemed doomed until Mrs. Johnson, with the aid of her husband, Charles B. Johnson, stepped in.

Now restored, the 65,000 square-foot Carolands is the largest house west of the Mississippi, according to the historical association.

T. Jack Foster Jr. will be master of ceremonies at the event, which runs from 6 to 9:30 p.m.

Mike Nevin and Jerry Hill will be auctioneers for the live and silent auction.

Deadline for ordering tickets, starting at $150, is September 9. For information, call 299-0104
'Reign of Rat' author reads at Menlo library

Author Gil Smolin will read from and discuss his novel, "The Reign of the Rat," on Tuesday, September 13, at 7 p.m. in the Menlo Park library.

Mr. Smolin, a clinical professor and research ophthalmologist at the UC San Francisco Medical School, treated and lived among people with leprosy when he worked at the New Hope Leprosy Hospital in India.

His book tells the tale of an archaeobiologist and his former lover, a doctor, who travel to the Himalayas and the Arctic Circle looking for a cure for a drug-resistant form of leprosy, which has created an epidemic.

The reading is free. The library is at 800 Alma St. For more information, call outreach librarian Roberta Roth at 330-2512.
National security focus of program

The Peninsula chapter of the World Affairs Council of Northern California will kick off its new season on Sunday, September 18, with a talk on the "Emerging Challenges for National Security." The program starts at 3 p.m. at a private estate in Atherton.

Michael Nacht, dean and professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, will discuss global terrorism, the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and rising Chinese-American tensions. Professor Jenny Martinez of the Stanford Law School will moderate.

Tickets are $8 for members, $5 for students with ID, and $15 for non-members. Prepaid reservations are due by Wednesday, September 14, at 5 p.m. Check in is at 2:30 p.m.; there will be a reception after the program. For reservations, call 415-293-4600.
Free English classes in Menlo Park

Registration for free English language classes is set for Tuesday, September 6, at 6:30 p.m. at the Menlo Park Senior Center, in the Belle Haven neighborhood.

The classes, which will meet Tuesdays and Thursdays for 12 weeks, beginning September 8, are for people who speak little or no English.

They are being funded with a Peninsula Community Foundation grant, according to Roberta Roth, outreach librarian for the city of Menlo Park.

There are two sections being offered: one from 6 to 7 p.m. and the other from 7:15 to 8:15 p.m.

Students will learn to fill out an application, make an appointment on the telephone, and practice English on a computer.

The Menlo Park Senior Center is at 110 Terminal Ave. For more information, call Ms. Roth at 330-2525.
Stipends for providers of child-care services

Stipends ranging from $100 to $2,500 are available to child-care providers to pursue training and professional development in the field, the Child Care Coordinating Council of San Mateo County has announced. For information or an application, call 655-6770, ext. 317. Applications are due by September 6.
SamTrans rates rise 20-25 percent

In case any bus rider needs a reminder, fares rose 20 to 25 percent on September 1.

San Mateo County's bus service hiked fares to help offset increased operating costs, particularly for fuel and medical insurance, SamTrans said.

Meanwhile, SamTrans recently tweaked schedules on 13 bus routes to more reflect actual running times, said spokeswoman Christine Dunn.

South of Redwood City, only Routes 390 to the Daly City BART station, and KX local and express services will be affected. New timetables are available online at samtrans.com and soon will be on buses and pass outlets.

For fare and schedule information, call 1-800-660-4287.

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