THE frequent complaint that young people today don't learn much about current events and history hardly held up, for once, as three winners of Los Gatos Rotary Club's International Affairs Contest were introduced at the club's weekly meeting. First- and second-place winners read their essays. The first prize of $1,000 went to Han Nguyen, an 11th-grade student at Santa Teresa High School, and the second-place award of $200 went to Luc Morris, a senior at Los Gatos High School. Third-place winner of the $100 prize is Charles Wang, an 11th-grader at Saratoga High.
The countywide contest, open to all high school students, was conducted April 18 in the Los Gatos High library. The essay subject was, "Do you think the hostile U.S. policy towards Cuba is justified, considering that more favorable relations are maintained with China and Vietnam?" The first-place winner, incidentally, argued that the policy is not justified, while the second place winner argued that it is.
The idea for the contest came about in 1988 when the local Rotary Club looked for some community project besides a charitable donation. Club member Robin Jeffs, who with his wife Freda came to the U.S. from Britain, had noted surveys that showed how little American youngsters knew of current events compared with Europeans. With help from Los Gatos High vice principal Patti Hughes, the first contest was held in February 1989. For a couple of years, Rotarian Jerome Rosefield was contest chairman.
Anything that stimulates youthful interest in news and history must be to the good. National surveys have shown some high school students can't say when the American Civil War was fought, nor what it was about. Fortunately, Los Gatos students generally do better.
YES, there are still honest folk around, Chahal Sing, an employee of the 7-Eleven store,16250 Los Gatos Blvd., saw an envelope someone left behind April 25 and found $2,500 inside. He promptly called store owner Mahmood Waziri and the money was taken to the Los Gatos police and, in good time, restored to an elderly male customer. "He kissed my hands when it was returned," Waziri said. Hey, wouldn't any of us?
FORMER Los Gatos High football star Tom Krug, who proved to be a sensational quarterback with Notre Dame last season after a year of bench-sitting, could see his gridiron career coming to an unfortunate end. Sports-page reports last week said Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz announced that the 6-foot, 205-pound athlete has a congenital defect in his neck, one he's apparently had since birth, that caused a fusion of two vertebrae. A team physician said the condition could be dangerous in a contact sport. A decision was to be made on whether Krug can play again.
CELEBRATING Older Americans Month, a Spring Luncheon will be held Thursday, May 16, at the Neighborhood Center, 208 E. Main St. The luncheon is being arranged by Family Service in conjunction with the Live Oak Nutrition Center. The cost is $2 and reservations no later than May 13 are required. Phone 354-0707.
ONE WAY A Place for Teens has raised funds has been by selling bricks for $300 and plaques for $1,000 to be inscribed with the names of families or businesses or perhaps in honor of someone. At a weekend bricklaying party at the "Outhouse," bricks were laid in the patio's sitting wall, with the help of bricklayer Mike Ensley and some of the 160 people who've bought bricks. The bricks were inscribed by Pierce Signs of Los Gatos. Among those doing a Winston Churchill (Sir Winston loved bricklaying) and partaking of pizza and sodas were Jim and Dru Barth, Tony Silveria, Susan and Kim Fredkin, former board member Susan Tuttle and co-presidents Sue Donnelly and Tova Rugani, with Chelsea Bond, Jamie Pellegrin, Taylor Henricks and Kevin Mullen. There's more wall space and bricks are still available, fundraising chairwoman Gladie Rabitz said. Phone 354-7357 for information.
LEIGH Weimers, the San Jose Mercury News columnist who's covered Silicon Valley and environs for 30 years, writes his column at his Redwood Estates home and sends it in by modem, he said in a talk to the Los Gatos Kiwanis Club.
SPEAKING of communication by computer, Los Gatos resident-winemaker Christopher (Kit) Menkin writes in a leasing-industry newsletter about how he converted to a "computer nerd" and advises other business people on the advantage of e-mail and being online. Menkin's American Leasing Co. of Santa Clara celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.
OLDEST resident at the April 20 Old Timers dinner, Vera Ferini, 95, was born in Jamestown, not Los Gatos, as I, alas, heard it.
LOS GATOS graphic designer Rick Tharp, whose Tharp Did It studio is in Old Town, designed a a book of "winning" recipes from the San Francisco 49ers titled Cooking With Champions.. The $33 book, which benefits the 49ers Foundation and the American Cancer Society, contains suggestions for healthier, lower-fat dishes, like Jerry Rice's "Flash 80" rice, Adam Walker's chicken on a stick, and coach George Seifert's smoked-salmon quiche. Among writeups about the book is one from Tharp's home town, Mansfield, Ohio, where his dad, Fred Tharp, was a sportswriter for the News Journal. Rick, who designed the Los Gatos Weekly-Times logo with its newsboy mascot, worked with Helen Mendel of the ACS to produce the book. It can be ordered from the cancer society at 1-(800)-227-2345.
CURRENT exhibits at our two museums are well worth a drop-in. At the Los Gatos Museum on Tait Avenue ,the Los Gatos Art Association Juried Show is on display to June 1; and at Forbes Mill Museum, a new exhibit titled "A New Look at Old Los Gatos" includes paintings of well-known buildings.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, May 8, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved