The Sun Sunnyvale's Newspaper News Briefs Judge pushes back Lamson sentencing The sentencing for Jeff Lamson was pushed back until Jan. 27, after a tight court calendar prevented both sides from having enough time to present their character witnesses. In a closed session before the sentencing was to begin, Judge LaDoris Cordell ruled that more court time would be necessary to hear from all witnesses who want to speak on behalf of or against Lamson. Lamson, the ex-Homestead High School football coach who pleaded no contest to sexual offenses with two former students in October, faces a maximum of six years in prison. Spare the air this winter For many people, winter conjures up cozy images of sitting in front of a roaring fire with a cup of hot cocoa. While that makes a pretty picture, the reality is that fireplaces and wood stoves are major sources of air pollution. While you're snuggled up by the fire, you're actually inhaling toxic particulate matter and your chimney is spewing particulates into the neighborhood air. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is warning that the situation may be more serious than usual this winter, especially if the winter is colder and the air more stagnant than last year. It may mean the district will issue more Spare the Air Tonight alerts. The air district is asking all Santa Clara residents with fireplaces or woodstoves to make the following changes: * Install a natural gas insert into your existing fireplace--it's the cleanest option of all. * Try using manufactured, compressed logs such as Duraflame and Presto. They burn longer and are 50 percent cleaner than wood. * If you must burn wood, use only dry seasoned wood. * If you have an old woodstove (manufactured before 1988) it's highly polluting. Consider replacing it with a natural gas model. * When a Spare the Air Tonight alert is called, please don't burn wood. For more tips on building a better fire call 1-800-HELP-AIR or visit the district's Web site at www.sparetheair.org. UCSC sponsoring free career nights UCSC Extension is offering January Career Nights, free orientation sessions to some of its popular certificate programs. Other certificate programs will be featured at other county locations in January. For more information call 342-0402. Those interested are asked to RSVP; they will receive a free set of materials. [ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, December 23, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.