News briefs News briefs (October 15, 2004)

Mobile home park feud set for jury trial

Jury selection in the criminal trial of Betty Galin is scheduled to begin Monday. Prosecutors have accused Galin of assault, battery and violating a restraining order, charges stemming from her feud with Al Stuetzle, a fellow Sahara Village Mobile Home Park resident.

Galin, who is in her mid-70s, allegedly threw a flashlight at Stuetzle, 85, that hit him in the face. Stuetzle said he believes she also smashed his windshield and slashed the tires on his car.

A lawsuit this summer has bound both parties to secrecy pending testimony in the upcoming trial, but Galin has reportedly placed a For Sale sign in the window of her home.

Stuetzle has said that he and his wife will have to leave the park if Galin does not.

Save the Bay steps up pressure on Navy

Environmentalists plan to come face-to-face with Navy officials Oct. 14 as they continue their campaign for a full cleanup of a polluted Moffett Field drainage pond.

A week after running an inflammatory ad in the Voice last week, Save the Bay is exhorting its members and supporters to attend a Navy open house at Mountain View City Hall to discuss long-term clean-up plans for the site.

Save the Bay's ad depicted imaginary deformed animal species that could inhabit the pond in the future, with the caption, "Toxic chemicals might not be the only thing the Navy leaves behind at Moffett Field."

Andrea Espinoza called the ad "misinformation" and said it "couldn't be farther from the truth."

The Navy had originally planned to clean up the site to a level safe for migratory birds. But critics and those who want to see the site included in the massive South Bay wetlands restoration project want a stricter standard that would be safe for fish and a larger food web.

Pathways awards

The Pathways Hospice Foundation of Mountain View will give out awards on Oct. 21 to Peninsula leaders Madeline and Isaac Stein, county health officer Martin Fenstersheib and the staff and volunteers of Pretoria Sungardens Hospice in South Africa.

Pathways is a nonprofit that provides health care at home for local families. For more information about the awards ceremony, where author Calvin Trillin will speak, call 229-1201 or visit www.pathwayshealth.org.

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