San Mateo

SAN MATEO, Calif. -- Politicians sometimes wonder what it takes to rouse the public. San Mateo County Supervisor Tom Nolan found out: Try to control the reproductive organs of their pets.More than a year ago, Mr. Nolan proposed an ordinance requiring that all cats and dogs older than six months be spayed or neutered. He was outraged, he said, by the 10,000 unwanted cats and dogs that are put to death each year by the county humane society.Nothing prepared him for the furor that followed.Hearings in this county just south of San Francisco drew 400 agitated residents at a time.

Josie Mehta, a retired registered nurse who had worked at the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center, died Sept. 1 of cancer at her Nottingham home. She was 61. The daughter of an insurance man and a homemaker, Josie Dela Cruz was born and raised in Virac, the Philippines, where she graduated from high school. After earning her nursing degree in 1972 from the University of Santo Thomas in the Philippines, she came to Baltimore the next year when she took a nursing job at the old Church Home Hospital.

Josie Mehta, a retired registered nurse who had worked at the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center, died Sept. 1 of cancer at her Nottingham home. She was 61. The daughter of an insurance man and a homemaker, Josie Dela Cruz was born and raised in Virac, the Philippines, where she graduated from high school. After earning her nursing degree in 1972 from the University of Santo Thomas in the Philippines, she came to Baltimore the next year when she took a nursing job at the old Church Home Hospital.

WHERE CAN YOU make $2,000 a day, with no real effort? In San Mateo County, Calif. Before you start packing your bags to head there, you should know that the average homeowner in San Mateo County saw the value of his or her property increase by $2,000 a day over the past month. The median price of a single-family home in the county reached $896,000. But if you don't own a home in San Mateo County, you don't get the two grand a day. Someone from outside California might think that people must be building a lot of new mansions in San Mateo County.

SAN MATEO, Calif. -- She lay trapped inside a dark and dusty chimney with her friend for nearly an hour. Firefighters found the only way to free them was to demolish the chimney.But when all was said and done, Bonnie Earle, 10, had one question: If two little girls couldn't make it from the top of the chimney to the living room fireplace, how could Santa Claus?Firefighters and family members said it was that kind of reasoning that led Bonnie and Nicole Jones, 6, to the chimney Tuesday afternoon after Bonnie lost the keys to her grandparents' San Mateo home.

WHERE CAN YOU make $2,000 a day, with no real effort? In San Mateo County, Calif. Before you start packing your bags to head there, you should know that the average homeowner in San Mateo County saw the value of his or her property increase by $2,000 a day over the past month. The median price of a single-family home in the county reached $896,000. But if you don't own a home in San Mateo County, you don't get the two grand a day. Someone from outside California might think that people must be building a lot of new mansions in San Mateo County.

Less than two years ago, the Peninsula Humane Society in California's San Mateo County came up with a simple idea: Curtail the breeding of animals in order to stop the killing of animals.The approach was revolutionary. Instead of accepting the killing of surplus dogs and cats as "normal," the society proposed requiring every animal be spayed or neutered, unless the owners purchased breeding permits. It was a landmark attempt to shift responsibility for animal overpopulation onto those who cause the problem: People who allow their animals to produce litters, no matter what the reason.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - It took Anne LeClair a split second to realize that there was opportunity in the murder trial of Scott Peterson, who is accused of killing his wife, Laci, and their unborn son. As soon as her county was identified as one of a handful of possible trial locations, LeClair, a tourism official, was collecting business cards and putting together promotional materials. "I FedExed the package the next day to the presiding judge," said LeClair, president and chief executive of the San Mateo County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

In 1941, Dolores Kelsey Sorci was a housewife in Boise, Idaho, with three daughters and no job experience. Then the United States went to war, and within a year Ms. Sorci was a riveter servicing B-24s at Hill Air Base near Ogden, Utah.2 "No," she answers. "I never thought about it."Patricia Teeling Lapp was not easily intimidated either. But she did get lonely."Three days after I was married, I got my assignment," Ms. Lapp says, remembering her service with the Civil Aeronautics Administration.

It's a familiar scenario. The manager dreads writing employee performance reviews, and not just because they take up time. Hoping to be thought of as a good person, the manager sidesteps uncomfortable criticism and ends up concocting a bland appraisal that lacks detail, substance or guidance for the employee.The employee, who recalls that a co-worker got sacked soon after receiving a positive job review, is demoralized despite being praised as a "team player" who "does a nice job."The annual job appraisal does not have to be such a perfunctory ritual.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - It took Anne LeClair a split second to realize that there was opportunity in the murder trial of Scott Peterson, who is accused of killing his wife, Laci, and their unborn son. As soon as her county was identified as one of a handful of possible trial locations, LeClair, a tourism official, was collecting business cards and putting together promotional materials. "I FedExed the package the next day to the presiding judge," said LeClair, president and chief executive of the San Mateo County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

SAN MATEO, Calif. -- It's beyond being a personal matter for Dolph Camilli, who was a major-league baseball standout during the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, a time when the game presented its most competitive demands and players were devoid of bargaining rights. If they couldn't live with second-class citizenship and instances in which the club owners had all the authority, there was only one option: quitting.Camilli is one of 77 former players who have been ignored in the baseball pension plan, simply because they had the misfortune to play before the retirement system was established in 1947.

In 1941, Dolores Kelsey Sorci was a housewife in Boise, Idaho, with three daughters and no job experience. Then the United States went to war, and within a year Ms. Sorci was a riveter servicing B-24s at Hill Air Base near Ogden, Utah.2 "No," she answers. "I never thought about it."Patricia Teeling Lapp was not easily intimidated either. But she did get lonely."Three days after I was married, I got my assignment," Ms. Lapp says, remembering her service with the Civil Aeronautics Administration.

It's a familiar scenario. The manager dreads writing employee performance reviews, and not just because they take up time. Hoping to be thought of as a good person, the manager sidesteps uncomfortable criticism and ends up concocting a bland appraisal that lacks detail, substance or guidance for the employee.The employee, who recalls that a co-worker got sacked soon after receiving a positive job review, is demoralized despite being praised as a "team player" who "does a nice job."The annual job appraisal does not have to be such a perfunctory ritual.

It's time for readers of this column to have the very last word. This month, many of you addressed recent columns about how to fire an employee, disastrous friendships between bosses and employees, and the high cost of child care.About the proper time to fire an employee, a reader of the Star Democrat from Chestertown wrote: "I agree with you on all points except when you wrote, 'Pick your time carefully -- Friday afternoons often are best . . .' I think Friday afternoon, for any sort of discipline, including firing, is the wrong time."

Less than two years ago, the Peninsula Humane Society in California's San Mateo County came up with a simple idea: Curtail the breeding of animals in order to stop the killing of animals.The approach was revolutionary. Instead of accepting the killing of surplus dogs and cats as "normal," the society proposed requiring every animal be spayed or neutered, unless the owners purchased breeding permits. It was a landmark attempt to shift responsibility for animal overpopulation onto those who cause the problem: People who allow their animals to produce litters, no matter what the reason.

SAN MATEO, Calif. -- It's beyond being a personal matter for Dolph Camilli, who was a major-league baseball standout during the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, a time when the game presented its most competitive demands and players were devoid of bargaining rights. If they couldn't live with second-class citizenship and instances in which the club owners had all the authority, there was only one option: quitting.Camilli is one of 77 former players who have been ignored in the baseball pension plan, simply because they had the misfortune to play before the retirement system was established in 1947.

It's time for readers of this column to have the very last word. This month, many of you addressed recent columns about how to fire an employee, disastrous friendships between bosses and employees, and the high cost of child care.About the proper time to fire an employee, a reader of the Star Democrat from Chestertown wrote: "I agree with you on all points except when you wrote, 'Pick your time carefully -- Friday afternoons often are best . . .' I think Friday afternoon, for any sort of discipline, including firing, is the wrong time."

SAN MATEO, Calif. -- Politicians sometimes wonder what it takes to rouse the public. San Mateo County Supervisor Tom Nolan found out: Try to control the reproductive organs of their pets.More than a year ago, Mr. Nolan proposed an ordinance requiring that all cats and dogs older than six months be spayed or neutered. He was outraged, he said, by the 10,000 unwanted cats and dogs that are put to death each year by the county humane society.Nothing prepared him for the furor that followed.Hearings in this county just south of San Francisco drew 400 agitated residents at a time.

SAN MATEO, Calif. -- She lay trapped inside a dark and dusty chimney with her friend for nearly an hour. Firefighters found the only way to free them was to demolish the chimney.But when all was said and done, Bonnie Earle, 10, had one question: If two little girls couldn't make it from the top of the chimney to the living room fireplace, how could Santa Claus?Firefighters and family members said it was that kind of reasoning that led Bonnie and Nicole Jones, 6, to the chimney Tuesday afternoon after Bonnie lost the keys to her grandparents' San Mateo home.