Los Gatos Weekly-Times

THE PROWLER

Whose woods are these? Dunno, but a local property owner has taken great pains to let passersby know that a grove of trees off Highway 9 near the Saratoga-Monte Sereno border do not belong
to the public.

"This wood is private property," reads a spray-painted billboard that stands above what remains of these trees, which haven't been topped so much as halved. The Prowler is curious about the situation that led to the sign's posting: Did some would-be lumberjack take a chainsaw to these trees, thinking that they were growing on public land and were, therefore, firewood fodder? Or did folks who saw the property owner out there splitting logs think that something untoward was going on and report the incident to the authorities? Either way, the effect has been to turn a bit of natural beauty into a roadside distraction.

Los Gatans may be further distracted by the trendy new "Caller ID" service offered by GTE and Pac Bell, which allows folks to trace hang-ups, obscene calls and, an even worse scourge, telephone solicitors back to their source numbers. Still, the Prowler feels compelled to remark on Pac Bell's ad campaign for this service, which was duplicitous enough to make this cat's fur stand on end.

First, the phone company launches a long, laborious TV ad campaign touting the wonders of its new service. Then, fulfilling its legal obligation, Pac Bell takes out a full-page newspaper ad to let customers know that the service will begin June 1, and they have to choose how they want to block people with "Caller ID" from gaining access to their phone number.

OK, what's wrong with this picture? First, nowhere in the newspaper ad does it mention that Pac Bell is responsible for providing the new service in the first place. Secondly, what's the point of paying for this service if everyone on the receiving end can render it null and void? The Prowler has three words to describe this marketing technique: lame, lame, lame.