Font
ResizePleasanton
Celebrate the lunar new year with food and carnival: The Chinese American Cooperation Council invites the public to Pleasanton to celebrate the Lunar New Year with a gala night of performances and a carnival which includes a large community potluck.
Organizers expect to draw more than 2,000 people to the events. Council spokeswoman Amy Liu said for the first time the Sixth Tri-Valley Chinese Culture Day is scheduling activities on different dates.
A New Year's eve gala, including stage performances, will be held at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 24, at the Amador Theater at Amador Valley High, 1155 Santa Rita Road. Tickets are $10 to $15 and can be bought at Amador High, where the group's Chinese school is located, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets can also be bought online at http://www.caccusa.org/. For more information, e-mail ticket_info@caccusa.org or call 925-828-5958.
A free New Year's carnival with food and entertainment will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 15, at the high school. There will be cooking demonstrations, food tastings and food shows and competitions from 5 to 6 p.m. A pot-luck dinner will start at 5:30 p.m. To RSVP, go to http://www.caccusa.org/. At 6:30 p.m. there will be performances, vendor booths, children's games and raffles.
The upcoming
— Eric Louie
Tennis instructor pleads not guilty to molestation: A tennis instructor accused of sexually abusing some of his young students in the late 1990s and early 2000s has entered a plea of not guilty to molestation charges.
Henry John Germain, 62, of Dublin, has been charged with 16 molestation counts involving six former students he coached at Castlewood Country Club. The girls were between 9 and 12 years old at the time.
Germain was arrested Sept. 1, three days after the country club forwarded letters to the Alameda County Sheriff's Office written by three of Germain's accusers. The women, who are in their late teens and early 20s, detailed the alleged molestations and wrote that they were coming forward because they didn't want it to happen to anyone else.
After his initial arrest, two more women accused Germain of abusing them. After he posted $1.08 million bail Sept. 24, Germain was arrested again after another woman said she was molested in 2004. He then posted $60,000 bail on that most recent charge.
During the investigation, sheriff's deputies also found more than a dozen women who accused Germain of abusing them when he taught in the Palm Springs area in the 1980s. The statute of limitations has expired on those cases, so they cannot be charged.
Alameda County Sheriff's deputies are working with their counterparts in Riverside County on the investigation. Investigators did say the Riverside women, who said they were 9 to 12 years old at the time of the abuse, could be allowed to testify.
Germain will return to court Jan. 29.
— Sophia Kazmi
Tracy
City offers ski trip for teenagers: A city program is offering an opportunity for local teenagers to experience mountain snow and maybe make some new friends during a ski trip to Dodge Ridge Ski Resort scheduled for Jan. 31.
The trip is open to high school and middle school students. All participants must be registered by a parent or guardian and have all paperwork completed prior to departure.
Fees range from $55 for transportation only to $130 to include equipment rental, lift tickets, and/or lessons. Anyone going on the trip will need to bring his/her own lunch, or money to buy lunch.
Deadline to sign up is Friday, Jan. 23, and only 40 slots are available, so teens are asked to register as soon as possible.
In previous years, the popularity of this trip has pushed registration to near capacity.
For more information, contact the Parks and Community Services Department, 400 E. 10th St., or call (209) 831-6200.
— Mike Martinez
Livermore
Learn about forensic science: "Carbon Dating, Anthrax and Forensic Science," the first talk in a new "Science Chat" series organized by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m., Tuesday, at the Livermore Public Library, Civic Center branch, 1188 S. Livermore Ave.
Lab scientist John Knezovich will lead the seminar.
For more information, call Lucchetti at 925-422-5815.
— Jeanine Benca
BAIL GRANTED TO HOMICIDE SUSPECT: Bail has been set for a Tracy man accused of killing his co-worker in the parking lot of their Livermore workplace.
Aaron Capili had been denied bail until Friday, when a Hayward judge set a bail amount of $ 3.01 million, said Guy Louie, Capili's attorney.
Capili, 39, was arrested in July after he allegedly stabbed co-worker John Patrick Winters during a fight in the parking lot of FormFactor on Longard Road, where the two worked the night shift. Winters, 41, of Union City, died at the scene. Capili was arrested based on probable cause shortly after police arrived.
A Pleasanton judge ruled in December that there was enough evidence for Capili to stand trial for murder. The case has been transferred to the Hayward courthouse, where criminal cases originating from the Tri-Valley are held.
Capili, who remains at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, is scheduled to return to court Feb. 17.
— Sophia Kazmi
