AFTER YEARS of battling to get an overpass to avoid the danger of turning off mountain roads onto Highway 17, area residents are finally seeing their dream come true. On Aug. 24, at 10 a.m., the Gillian Cichowski Memorial Overpass will be dedicated in a formal ceremony at the intersection of Bear Creek Road and Highway 17. Named after the woman who was killed Feb. 27, 1992, while attempting a turn onto the highway, the overpass is expected to prevent similar tragedies. For the ceremony, parking will be permitted on a frontage road not yet opened to traffic. County Supervisor Mike Honda will host a barbecue afterward at Alma Forestry Station, 19680 Santa Cruz Highway.
AFTER THREE years as case worker with the Family Services Association's Los Gatos office, Meg Basinski resigned as of Aug. 1. Appointed in her place is Lori Birch, a graduate in social studies at San Jose State University. Basinski, who with her husband, Gary, a Lockheed Martin executive, lives in Saratoga, said she had to give up her post for personal reasons. "My father in Elyria, Ohio, who is 87, has been cared for by two aunts," she said. "I will be going back there to look after him. However, my home will continue to be in Saratoga, and I will be volunteering from time to time at the Los Gatos Neighborhood Center." Gary and Meg Basinski have two children, Katie, 27, and Sean, 24, both living on the East Coast.
A PLACE For Teens, the youth center behind Los Gatos High School, will benefit from Food Fest '96, a family fun-and-eats event on Sept. 8, in the Town Plaza from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. There will be 10 or more food booths with topnotch local area restaurants offering tasty dishes at $1 per serving. "We'll have games and toys for kids, including bubble-blowing," said Aimee Montgomery, teen chairwoman. Radio stations KARA and KRTY will be on hand. These establishments have signed up: Boston Market, Cafe Marcella, California Cafe, Dolce Spazio, Gaetano's, La Pastaia, Los Gatos Brewing Company, Los Gatos Bar and Grill and Marbella. The Food Fest replaces the former Pasta Cook-off.
LOS GATOS resident Megan Davidson, who directed the Los Gatos Theater Project, was inducted into an ancient druidic circle Aug. 9 in Llandeilo, Wales, at the Welsh National Eistedfodd, a week-long festival of Welsh arts and culture. Davidson was only the third woman from the United States to be initiated in the Gorsedd Circle. She was honored for years of dedication to promoting Welsh culture in California. Davidson, who has lived more than 30 years in Los Gatos and is a former president of the arts commission, was born and raised in Kidwelly, South Wales. She has brought numerous musical and arts groups, poets and writers, as well as plays by Emlyn Williams and other Welsh playwrights, to California. The Eisteddfod, dating back to 1187, was originally a marathon competition of music and poetry among bards at the courts of princes.
READERS of GQ magazine will find Jeff Tuttle, 25, a professional model and 1989 LGHS grad, in the current issue on pages 121, 123 and 127. The son of Nicholas and Susan Tuttle of Los Gatos, Jeff was on the rowing crew at UCLA when he was spotted by an agent. Since graduating from UCLA in 1993, he's been living in Los Angeles, pursuing a career that's taken him to shows in New York, Paris and Milan. "He's moving to New York, where there are more opportunities," his dad, a computer consultant, said. "He's looking for the big break." Jeff's ballplayer brother, Dave Tuttle, was signed by the Detroit Tigers and is playing in Visalia.
LOS GATOS Museum of Art announces two new exhibitions opening Aug. 24 at the Tait Avenue museum. "Photographic Medley" is by Virginia Sorci, a retired teacher who uses her Nikon 35mm camera and makes color prints from negatives in her own darkroom. "Serious Fun" is by Janet Fullmer Bajorek, owner of Iguana Galleries in Los Gatos. She fires ceramic sculptures in her kiln and colors them. A reception for the two artists is scheduled for Aug. 24, from 2 to 5 p.m. The show closes Sept. 22.
RECIPIENT OF the prestigious Paul Harris Fellowship Award from the Los Gatos Rotary Club is Tonya Silva, a Los Gatos High School English teacher. The presentation, made possible by a $1,000 donation from the local club, recognizes Silva's work as faculty adviser to the high school's Interact Club, a student group sponsored by Los Gatos Rotary. Interact's services include holiday baskets for the needy, beach and park cleanups and other good deeds.
VILLAGE HOUSE Restaurant will have new kitchen-fire suppression equipment, thanks to a $600 donation from the Los Gatos Rotary. The restaurant is operated by volunteers of the Ming Quong Service League.
LOS GATOS Kiwanis Club members, attending the 76th Cal-Nev-Ha District convention at the Santa Clara Convention Center, heard a keynote address by Sally Kristen Ride, who was the first American woman in space during the shuttle Challenger's 1983 mission. Ride earned her Ph.D. from Stanford University. She was named director of the California Space Institute and is a physics professor at the UC-San Diego. Ride encourages young women to study science and math.
KEEPING youngsters safe as they head back to school is the theme of a Safety Awareness Day program hosted by the Whole Foods Market on Aug. 24 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Vanished Children's Alliance will fingerprint children free of charge and distribute safety literature to parents and coloring books to the kids. The market will sponsor a raffle with a 21-speed mountain bike as the grand prize.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, August 21, 1996.
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