The Cupertino Courier

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Writer highlights
Silicon Valley
Reads Festival

The Cupertino Library will have a full day of activities Feb. 23 for its Silicon Valley Reads Festival, which features hometown writer Bo Caldwell.

Caldwell is the author of Distant Land of My Father, which was selected for this year's annual Silicon Valley Reads program.

Two morning shows will serve as preludes to Caldwell's talk at 2:30 p.m. There will be a Chinese tea ceremony demonstrated by the American Tea Culture Association, accompanied by the music of the Firebird Chinese Youth Orchestra, from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Then the Chinese Performing Artists of America will put on a show from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. There will also be drop-in craft activities for children from 10 a.m. to noon.

The Cupertino Library is at 10800 Torre Ave.

Gas leak
disrupts
traffic

A natural gas leak at a construction site at McClellan Road and September Drive on Feb. 12 affected five homes and forced traffic on McClellan to be rerouted.

The gas leak was reported around 10:20 a.m. and residents were asked to stay in their homes. Because of breezy conditions, there was no pooling of the gas, according to authorities.

Traffic was reopened at around 3 p.m.

Health Trust
announces
essay winners

Four students from Santa Clara County, including Monta Vista High School junior Vanessa Ing, were named winners of The Health Trust Essay Contest. The contest challenged teens to describe how young people can help make Silicon Valley the healthiest region in America.

A second-place award went to Kenny Wong, a seventh-grade student at Miller Middle School in San Jose. All four of the winning essays are posted on The Health Trust website, www.healthtrust.org.

The Health Trust received 269 entries. First-place winners each received a $500 U.S. Savings Bond and an Active Life Fun Pack with an iPod and accessories.

In January, The Health Trust announced a $30 million investment in three initiatives--healthy living, aging and healthy communities.