TITLE IX LAWSUIT: Megan Hull, daughter of Kathy Nicholson Hull of Los Gatos, was involved in a lawsuit against Brown University involving Title IX. The year Megan was a freshman at Brown, the university dropped women's volleyball and gymnastics, along with two men's sports.
Megan was able to continue playing because for two years the parents in the volleyball program picked up the $38,000 yearly tab. In her junior year Megan went to Georgetown and came back to Brown for her senior year to graduate in history and psychology.
Meanwhile, a law group, Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, got wind of the situation and initiated a lawsuit, which bears the title Cohen v. Brown. Megan was one of nine plaintiffs. The case dragged on for six years, even reaching the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in the plaintiffs' favor.
Megan, the youngest plaintiff, and the only one still on campus, was the target of harassment from students and faculty alike during that time. If the university weren't spending so much on legal fees there would be more money available for minority scholarships, went the argument.
Megan, however, stuck to her guns. The lawsuit was finalized in '98 with a ruling for the plaintiffs. Today Megan is working for the Women's Sports Foundation in Washington, D.C., keeping its website updated. Earlier she worked for Newsweek and a consortium of museums.
Megan was recently in town for the PAC 10 women's basketball tournament in San Jose, and her mother held a Mexican-theme party in her honor, complete with margaritas and munchies. Megan attended high school in Chicago and graduated from Montclair in the East Bay.
One aftermath of the lawsuit: Megan's sister, Courtney, who is 10 years younger, is now attending Brown—and playing on the women's volleyball team.
In other political news of the Hulls, Megan's father and Kathy's former husband, Blair Hull, has announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate from Illinois. He lives in Chicago. Blair is a Los Gatos High School alum, class of '60.
RAINMAN: Longtime Chemeketa Park resident Bob Warner died last month. In recent years he and his wife had been living at the Meadows, but for 37 years Mr. Warner diligently kept a rain gauge record at his mountain home. Faithfully he would relay the statistics to the U.S. Weather Bureau.
Thus he was the official weatherman of Chemeketa Park. When Warner was away, he would hire neighborhood boys to do the weather tracking for him. Next-door neighbor Pat Bargetto remembers her boys earned extra money thanks to that particular chore.
Warner earned his livelihood as a mapmaker for Rand McNally and then Gousha Map Company of San Jose.
FISH STORY: Bill Cilker's grandson, Jay Henderson, 12, won the award for the biggest trout caught at the recent Fishing Day sponsored by Los Gatos Rotary at Vasona Park. The club annually treats underprivileged youth to a fishing day at Vasona. Members' children (and grandchildren) are part of the action, too.
The actual size of the fish kept growing in the retelling, but rest assured it was the biggest. I have no idea how large it has grown by this date—you'll have to ask Jay. He is the son of Noelle and David Henderson of Los Gatos and has attended several fishing days with his grandpop.
WINNING ARTISTS: Elke Groves, David Hunt and Kathy Keenan captured first-place honors in the annual Los Gatos Art Association Open Juried Show. Keenan's mediums are oil and acrylic; Groves is a watercolorist; Hunt works in pastel. Groves and Keenan are Los Gatans; Hunt, a Saratogan.
Winning a second-place award for photography was Judith Bingman of Los Gatos. Third-place ribbons went to Ruth Condit, oil/acrylic, Saratoga; and Ron Hanner, watercolor, Los Gatos. Honorable mentions included, from Los Gatos, Audrey Armstrong, mixed media; Debbie Blessing, photography; Amy Konsterlie, watercolor; Evangelina Miller, mixed media; Sandi Okita, oil/acrylic; Ardis Nagler, photography; and Judi Snyder, watercolor. From Saratoga, Nacera Guerin, oil/acrylic; Mary Ann Henderson, watercolor; Cynthia Riordan, pastel; and Michiko Shimoda, 3D.
The show was judged by well-known muralist John Pugh and will be on display at the art museum on Tait in Los Gatos until May 3.
AMAZING PARROTS: The Pavorotti Parodying Parrots will perform at the Los Gatos Senior Center April 23 at 11:15 a.m. "Happy Birds" are amazing parrots that perform 15 dazzling tricks, from singing opera to playing basketball. I can visualize the opera, but basketball? How can you score without arms? I'd like to ask Larry Bird.
For lunch reservations afterwards, call 408.354.2360. Lynette Vega is the director.
AUDITION: Auditions for the Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley School summer program will be April 12, 24 p.m., at 40 N. First St. in San Jose. The summer program runs July 7-Aug. 2.
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By Mary Ann Cook