News Briefs News Briefs (September 10, 2004)

March to call attention to Iraq deaths

Mountain View Voices for Peace is planning a memorial procession on Sept. 10 at 6:00 p.m. to mark the official milestone of 1,000 U.S. troops killed during the Iraq War. The event will begin at the intersection of Castro Street and El Camino Real.

"It's a remarkable milestone," said MVVP's Lenny Siegel. "It was bad when 700 Americans died; it was bad when 5,000 Iraqis died. [One thousand] is not a magic number -- it's just a way to remind people of all the needless death that's going on."

For more information, visit www.mvvp.org.

Chamber endorses council candidates

Four candidates for city council have received endorsements from the Chamber of Commerce. The chamber is backing incumbents Nick Galiotto and Matt Pear, and challengers Margaret Abe-Koga and Laura Macias.

"Each of these candidates not only understands the needs and interests of local business owners, but also recognizes that supporting businesses brings success for the community at large," President and CEO Carol Olson said in a statement.

The chamber also came out in favor of Proposition 1A, a state budget provision which would prohibit the state from using local government tax revenues to pay for shortfalls, and Proposition 64, which limits the ability of private citizens to bring lawsuits against companies for violations of rules governing business practices.

Date set for murder trial

A trial date has been set for three defendants charged with the murder of 77-year-old Dottie Condon, who lived in Mountain View. The trial of Enrique Chavez, David Olayo and Jose Sosa is scheduled to begin on Oct. 25 at the Hall of Justice in San Jose in Department 24 at 8:30 a.m. Deputy District Attorney Dan Fehderau said he expects the trial to last four to six weeks.

Local residents helping relief effort

Three Mountain View residents joined 11 other volunteers and staff people from the Palo Alto Red Cross on a trip to Florida over Labor Day weekend to assist in the Disaster Relief Operation in response to Hurricane Frances. Katherine Federovitch, Uday Veeramachaneni and Rada Ford are deployed across Florida, helping provide food and basic medical services to those displaced by the storm.

To make a donation for the Red Cross's disaster relief efforts, call (800) HELP-NOW or go to www.redcross.org.

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