A 12-year-old girl who claimed a man had assaulted her last week and sprayed a chemical agent in her face has admitted making up a story, San Jose Police Officer Enrique Garcia reported on March 24.

Garcia said it was unclear why the girl would fabricate the incident.

The girl had claimed to have been walking from school to her grandmother's house on Meridian Avenue between Kooser Road and Dentwood Drive around 3:15 p.m. on March 17.

The girl told police a man was standing near a vehicle and asked her to help him get a cat out from beneath the car.

After she agreed to help him find the cat, the victim claimed the man sprayed her in the face and tried to grab her.

The girl then said she then broke free and ran to a nearby house.

Investigators had been working on the case for a week, including issuing a drawing of the suspect, when the girl admitted today that she made it all up.

Garcia said the girl had been taken to a local hospital for treatment of chemical burns, but investigators are awaiting lab results to determine if she was in fact sprayed with anything.

The girl was cited for filing a false police report and released to her mother.

Site for JW House
at Kaiser dedicated

The future site of JW House was dedicated on March 20 at the new Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Santa Clara.

Jan-Willem Knapen, who has inoperable brain cancer, traveled by ambulance from the current Kaiser Hospital to see the site of his dream house dedicated.

The 16-year-old San Jose resident conceived the idea of a residence for families of long-term patients at Kaiser following conversations with his Almaden Valley oncologist, Dr. Alan Wong.

JW, as he is known, started by soliciting funds from friends and family, presenting Wong with an initial donation of $10,000 in May 2004. Since then, some $300,000 has been raised toward a goal of $1.2 million to build, furnish and provide operating costs for the first year of operation.

On March 17, JW and Wong traveled to Sacramento to receive proclamations from the state assembly for their efforts.

For additional information, visit www.jwhouse.org.

Latin guitar group
brings 'world fusion'

The musical group Incendio will bring "Latin Guitar World Fusion" to the Almaden Adventures in the Arts on April 2. The guitar group not only performs flamenco, classical, Middle Eastern, Celtic, jazz, rock, trance and pop, but an amalgamation of all of these styles.

Almaden Adventures in the Arts is part of the music program at Joint Venture Churches of Almaden, the home of the Almaden United Church of Christ and the Episcopal Church in Almaden for more than 30 years. The concert series is an effort to provide quality artistic offerings for the church community and its neighbors.

Incendio will perform at Joint Venture Churches of Almaden, located at 6581 Camden Ave. The concert starts at 7:30 p.m., and tickets are $15 general and $8 students. Childcare will be provided. For more information, call 408.268.0243.

Schubert's 'Mass in G'
featured in concert

Chancel choirs of San Jose's Almaden Hills United Methodist Church and Palo Alto's Grace Lutheran Church will present their spring concert on April 10 featuring Schubert's Mass in G, accompanied by a 12-piece string orchestra with Dr. Timothy Zerlang at the portative pipe organ.

The concert includes the adagio from Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto performed by music director John Hess, an organ concerto, and anthems from both choirs. A reception will follow. The concert begins at 4 p.m. and tickets are $10. Almaden Hills UMC is located at 1200 Blossom Hill Road, San Jose. For more information, call 408.269.2345 or visit www.almadenhillsumc.org