Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Main Street

Mary Ann Cook

Harry Wu brings his message to Los Gatos Rotary Club

NO. 1 TROUBLEMAKER: Harry Wu, whom the Chinese Communists dubbed their No. 1 Troublemaker, and who was imprisoned for 19 years before fleeing to the U.S. and becoming a U.S. citizen, spoke to the Los Gatos Rotary Club recently. "Not to be a troublemaker is impossible for me," he told his audience. His mission is to tell the story of Chinese labor camps, as thoroughgoing and devastating a practice as the Holocaust, he says. The labor camps "spiritually damage your soul and reduce you to a robot."

The number of political enemies killed each year in China is 80 percent of the total worldwide, Wu comments, but we hear more about the torture, imprisonment and executions in the Middle East and Central and South America. He estimates Chinese political prisoners at six million or more.

Another chilling disclosure: Camp records indicated 200 executions, but only 50 cadavers. Those missing were presumably "harvested" for organs, which were sold for transplants in other countries, Wu said. Wu was told he could purchase a healthy lung, that of a nonsmoker, for $40,000; for a liver, $20,000; etc. Even more horrific, in some cases organs were removed before the donor was shot.

Wu's own story of imprisonment and torture is in his autobiographical books, Bitter Wind and Troublemaker. In 1995 he went back to China to film a documentary on the labor camps. He was again arrested, but the U. S. eventually learned of his capture and arranged his release.

Where human rights are routinely violated, trade restraints should be imposed, Wu insists. "The U.S. can't cut off all commerce with Communist China, but it should impose restrictions. We've done that with South Africa and Cuba, and China is a far worse offender in denying human rights."

Today Wu is a research fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution and denies being a hero. "I'm a survivor, and I'm lucky."

HOMETOWN HERO: Thanks to Matt Reichstein, a 1988 Los Gatos High School grad, a house in the Summit area was saved one recent night. Matt, coming home at midnight, noticed the house on fire, told his parents to call 911 and sprang into action. He climbed up on the roof with the garden hose and started dousing. When the Felton Fire Department got there, firefighters' main job was mopping up. "If it weren't for his quick thinking and action, that house would have been a goner," reports Louise Osborne.

HEROINE: Another winner is Los Gatan Cathy Landers, a senior at UC- Berkeley who is a semifinalist on Jeopardy's College Championships. Avid Jeopardy fans spotted her on a recent Monday show, including my 91-year old mother, who called in from Florida. Cathy is one of five daughters, three of whom are Cal grads and the other two there now.

PATIENCE: It took Mimi Kelleher Waldrum and Kriss Waldrum eight months to get a permit to hold their wedding at Town Plaza in front of the post office, but it was well worth it. And for this couple that's just a moment in time: They were engaged for five years and lived together for seven.

The festivities were lovely and lively, staccatoed with hijinks. To wit: the bride inserted the words "for tee times" within the "for better or worse" vows, what with the bridegroom being golf-addicted. Both are sports enthusiasts; they met at a baseball game and got engaged at a football game.

The bride is a contact-lens technician; the bridegroom a conference planner. The reception was held across the street at Valeriano's.

NO PATIENCE: Fred Crisp tales continued: When Crisp's real estate office was on the second floor of John Baggerly's father's print shop, John used to hear Crisp yell down the stairs, "Turn off those infernal machines. I can't hear the scratches." In other words, the horses that had been scratched from the race. Among other colorful occupations, Crisp was the town bookie.

BARBECUE ON LAWN: Add two more names to those to be feted at the "Team Los Gatos High School Retirement Barbecue" May 31 on the high school lawn: Patti Hughes, vice principal, and Jan Willoughby, teacher. Hughes' leave-taking means the triumvirate that has led Los Gatos High for 27 years (Hughes, principal Ted Simonson and v.p. Al Simon) is gone. Hard acts to follow.

FRIENDS MEET: The annual meeting of Friends of the Los Gatos Library will be held at 7 p.m. May 15 at the library. Audry Lynch of Saratoga, author of With Steinbeck in the Sea of Cortez, will be the speaker and homemade desserts will be offered. New officers and bylaw changes will be voted upon.

TEA FOR MORE THAN TWO: The teens at The Outhouse, known more officially as the Place for Teens, plan their annual spring event to help bridge the generation gap--big time. It's the Spring Tea for Seniors, and senior citizens will be special guests of the town's youth, who will pour tea, serve goodies and treat the older generation to a fine time. The date is May 17, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. Seniors can call Sue Tuttle at 395-3620 for a spot.

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