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THE SPECTRUM
News Briefs
24
JACOBS GIBSON, TISSIER
TO HEAD SUPERVISORS
ROSE JACOB-GIBSON
With little surprise, the Board of Supervisors
unanimously named Supervisor Rose Jacobs
Gibson president for the second time in her
tenure and Supervisor Adrienne Tissier the
second in command.
Jacobs Gibson, who took over from
Supervisor Jerry Hill, thanked her peers but
is reserving most of her comments for a
State of the County address Jan. 25. Tissier,
the newest member of the board, also kept
her remarks short but did issue a press
release highlighting her accomplishments
during her second year as a supervisor,
including a pharmaceutical disposal program,
older-driver traffic safety seminars
and expansion of the Choices re-entry program
for jail inmates.
The two unanimous votes place women in
both of the board’s highest positions — a
feat no one can quite remember having
occurred before.
Board president is not a separately elected
position but cycles through the members
based on seniority and votes. The president
does not carry any more weight than the others
in terms of voting but, much like a
mayor, sets the meeting agendas and can
determine the board focus.
Jacobs Gibson last served as president in
2003, nabbing the distinction of being the
first black female to hold the spot. Jacobs
Gibson, 59, was appointed to the board in
1999 to replace Ruben Barrales as the
Fourth District representative of East Palo
Alto, Menlo Park, Redwood City and the
unincorporated areas of North Fair Oaks and
Oak Knoll. Previously, she served on the
East Palo Alto City Council from 1992 to
1999, including stints as mayor in 1995 and
1996.
Gibson has indicated plans to continue
working on current issues, such as childhood
obesity and school wellness. She is also
known for her supervisory work with the
county’s Housing Endowment and Regional
Trust, which works to increase affordable
housing stock across the county through private
and public partnerships.
REDWOOD CITY MATERIALS FIRE
CREATES HEAVY SMOKE
Redwood City firefighters contained a onealarm
fire that broke out in a large heap of
trash at a car shredding business in Redwood
City, but the smoke was visible from miles
around, a fire chief reported. The fire was
reported at Sims Metal at 699 Seaport Blvd.
in the port area of Redwood City, Fire Chief
Gerald Kohlmann reported. There were no
injuries reported, but the fire department got
calls from as far away as Oakland reporting
the smoke, Kohlmann said. The fire broke
out in a pile of flammable materials from
scrapped cars, including roof liners and
upholstery. Nothing indicates that the fire
was set intentionally, Kohlmann said. While
the firefighters were in the process of extinguishing
the flames, Kohlmann advised residents
nearby with respiratory conditions to
remain inside. Firefighters from Menlo Park
and Woodside Fire District were called to
help extinguish the fire.
PENINSULA WOMAN SENTENCED
IN CRASH DEATH OF TWO FRIENDS
A 40-year-old Peninsula woman received
the maximum sentence possible in San
Mateo County Superior Court after pleading
no contest to vehicular manslaughter
charges in connection with a 2005 car crash.
Silvia Romero, of Redwood City, was sentenced
to 12 years and four months in state
prison for her role in a November 2005 crash
in East Palo Alto that killed her boyfriend,
Larry Young, 56, of East Palo Alto, and
fatally injured her friend Lucille Carter, 37,
also of East Palo Alto. According to police,
Romero was driving her Mercedes sedan on
East Bayshore Road at about 2 a.m. on Nov.
26, 2005, when she lost control and
slammed into a telephone pole at a speed of
over 65 mph. Young, who was in the back
seat of the car and not wearing a seatbelt,
was ejected from the car and died instantly,
according to coroner’s office investigators.
Carter, who was in the front passenger seat
and also not wearing a seatbelt, was paralyzed
and left in a coma. She died as a result
of her injuries in July, according to prosecutor
Eric Hove. Young left behind seven children
and Carter a 17-year-old daughter,
Hove said. The prosecution cited a witness
report that immediately after the crash,
Romero, who was not seriously hurt but who
was on felony probation for drug possession
at the time, asked the witness not to call the
police and then fled, leaving both victims at
the scene. Romero was arrested by East Palo
Alto police about 14 hours later and was
found to have cocaine and alcohol in her
system, according to Hove. Prosecutors
were unable to prove, however, that Romero
had been intoxicated at the time of the crash,
which could have brought a life sentence if
she had been convicted by a jury, Hove said.
On Oct. 27, Romero accepted a plea agreement,
pleading no contest to two counts of
vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence
and to a special allegation of fleeing
the scene. “The only person the defendant
thought of that night was herself,” Hove said
in summing up at the sentencing hearing.
While Romero’s defense attorney portrayed
Romero as “hysterical” after the crash and
devastated by the deaths of two close
friends, Judge Craig Parsons described her
behavior as “totally callous” and “inexcusable.”
Young’s mother, Dorothy, also spoke
briefly, saying that though her son had a history
of drug problems himself, he had been
trying to recover in recent years and was her
primary source of care. Romero declined to
speak on her behalf and sat quietly as the
sentence was pronounced.
REDWOOD CITY MAN ARRESTED
IN NORTH FAIR OAKS SHOOTING
San Mateo County Sheriff’s deputies arrested
a man suspected of shooting an 18-yearold
Newark man twice over the vandalism of
a car. The shooting occurred in North Fair
Oaks in the 600 block of Stanford Avenue,
according to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s
Office. Sheriff’s detectives say Marco
Carlos, 20, is responsible for the shooting.
Detectives arrested him at his mother’s
house in Redwood City and he was booked
on attempted murder charges. Earlier
Wednesday, deputies had arrived just as a
fight among 10 men was breaking up. The
deputies identified and released several of
the men and left. A couple hours later, three
of the men returned to the scene in a white
Buick and somebody inside the vehicle
began firing a handgun. Two shots hit the
victim, who was taken to an area hospital for
treatment. The victim has since been
released, according to the sheriff’s department.
The suspects fled in the Buick northbound
on Hurlingame Avenue and the vehicle
was later recovered unoccupied, the
sheriff’s office reported. The gun used in the
shooting, a .38- or .357-caliber gun, has yet
to be found. Carlos is scheduled to be
arraigned Friday on charges of attempted
murder.
SAN MATEO CO. COURT
EMPLOYEE RECEIVES JUSTICE
AWARD
San Mateo County Judge George A. Miram
recognized the court’s technology director
by awarding him the Presiding Judge’s
Service to Justice Award. Timothy Benton
was honored at the court’s annual holiday
luncheon “for his dedication and service to
justice for 17 years.” “Tim Benton embodies
the guiding principle of our court — service
to people of our county and the state,”
Miram said in a written statement.
According to Miram, Benton is best known
for his invention and development of
EZLegalFile, an interactive program that
assists in filling out forms necessary to
request or respond to papers for a variety of
legal issues. Since its inception, Miram
reported, EZLegalFile has been adopted by
40 counties in California. “It helps bring justice
into the homes of self-represented litigants
through their home computer,” Miram
said. EZLegalFile can be accessed at
www.sanmateocourt.org.
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