Community Briefs Community Briefs (September 09, 2005)

League holds forum on open government

Citizens and government officials alike are invited to join the Los Altos-Mountain View chapter of the League of Women Voters at a free public forum on open government.

Attorney James Chadwick, an expert of First Amendment issues, will cover California's open records laws and the Brown Act, the state law that governs public meetings. According to Ginny Lear, president of the local League of Women Voters chapter, the rights and requirements of both the public and the government are often unclear.

"People sometimes don't know what to do if an agency calls a meeting without proper public notice, or if public records requests are denied," Lear wrote in a statement.

The forum will take place Sept. 12 at 7:30 p.m. at Foothills Congregational Church, 461 Orange Ave. in Los Altos. For more information, call (650) 941-4846 or visit www.lwvlamv.org. -- Katie Vaughn

Hidden Villa honors UFW co-founder

Dolores Huerta, the activist who co-founded United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez in 1962, will be honored at the 10th annual Josephine and Frank Duveneck Humanitarian Awards Dinner at Hidden Villa this Saturday. Nan and Chuck Geschke and Kristina Underal will also be honored at the event, which recognizes exemplary humanitarians at the national, regional and local level.

Huerta and Chavez, both key figures in the workers' rights movement, were known to hold meetings at Hidden Villa in the past. Huerta currently runs the Dolores Huerta Foundation.

The fund-raising dinner, themed "Starry Starry Night," will take place from 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 10. To purchase tickets, call Diane Hunt at (650) 949-8652. Individual tickets are $175, and sponsorship packages begin at $2,500. -- Jenny Baer

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