Teenagers will be able to work at the polls for the first time
Gov. Pete Wilson has signed a bill allowing counties to hire 16- and 17-year-old students to work at the polls on Election Day.
The bill accomplishes two goals: It gives students a chance be involved in the democratic process and provides counties with an additional pool of Election Day poll workers.
Counties throughout the state need more then 100,000 poll workers for each statewide election.
To work at the polls, students must be citizens of the United States and seniors with a minimum 2.5 grade-point average.
Simpson trial lawyer to speak in Saratoga
Santa Clara University law professor Gerald Uelmen, one of the O.J. Simpson trial lawyers and author of the book Lessons from the Trial: The People vs. O. J. Simpson, will discuss the book and a play he wrote based on the life of William Jennings Bryan before Friends of the Saratoga Library.
The meeting, open to the public, is Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. in the community room of the Saratoga Library, 13650 Saratoga Ave.
Houses evacuated after workers crack gas pipe
Two houses were evacuated after construction workers digging underground on Saratoga Road cracked open a gas pipeline on Aug. 20, spewing out fumes and creating an underground gas leak.
Work on the stretch of road between Herriman and Highway 9 had closed one side of the roadway for the past few weeks. The gas leak, however, forced the city to close the road completely for an hour.
Luckily, the gas leak was relatively minor, and only the two houses directly in front of the gas line were affected, said Sgt. Van Lieden of the Saratoga Fire Department.
"If it had been a gas main, we would have responded a lot differently," said Van Leiden. "But, luckily, that wasn't the case."
The fire department was notified of the leak by construction workers who smelled a strong odor in the air at about 1 p.m. Saratoga Fire engineer Tom Alley said that two engine companies secured the scene in case of a fire, while PG&E workers quickly repaired the one- inch pipe.
After an hour of repair, PG&E workers secured the gas leak, and firefighters returned to their station while sheriff's deputies reopened the quarter-mile stretch of road.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, September 4, 1996.
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