Los Gatos’ Fourth of July Celebration at Oak Meadow Park was an old-fashioned hometown party celebrating the birth of our country. The San Jose Wind Symphony played patriotic music, Los Gatos Rotary barbecued and the Kiwanis served beer and wine. Thanks to the organizers and sponsors for a great event.
Oak Meadow Park’s shining star, the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad is celebrating the man who started it all this month. On Sunday, July 24, you can name the price for your ride, just as Billy Jones did on his ranch where the train originated. Donate as little or as much as you can for each ride on the train and the carousel on this special day. The Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad is a nonprofit organization that receives no outside funding and relies solely on the generosity of customers. Train and carousel will run from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Up the road, Saratoga is gearing up for its big annual summer event. Sunday July 28, Big Basin Way will be closed as car enthusiasts come to the Village to see cars of many makes, models and vintages at the 13th annual Saratoga Classic and Cool Car show. It’s a free event for all ages. There will be live music, food from local restaurants, beer and wine, vendors, a free photo booth and more. Shuttle service will be available from West Valley College. info@saratogachamber.org
On a more serious note, be careful out there. Crime is on the rise everywhere. My wallet was stolen out of my purse while I was shopping at TJ Maxx. It was a rude awakening that I wanted to share for several reasons:
1. It happened in a nanosecond, and I did not realize it.
2. Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputies have been wonderful. I knew I should report the incident but had no expectation that I would ever hear from them. I was wrong. When I called to report the incident, my information was taken, and I was told that a deputy would call. Within 15 minutes, Deputy Alexander Rockich called me and spent a half an hour on the phone getting information including credit card numbers. He has followed up four times so far, to find what I had been wearing to ID me on surveillance cameras and to update me he hadn’t found anything yet, but they were working on it. This certainly goes against the lack of police care that you hear about.
3. Apparently, this is a well-known ring that operates out of the store and has succeeded with several hits a week for some time. They operate as a gang and have several methods to distract: holding a shirt up as if to show someone and then making the grab, or just bumping into people. That is what happened to me. A woman bumped me with her cart not once, but twice. It was enough to divert my attention and have my wallet taken from my purse.
4. Within minutes, the thieves had gone to Target across the street and tried to charge $900 on each of five different credit cards. The debit cards required a pin, so those didn’t work for them. The charges were all denied, even though the cards came from different banks. How that happened is a miracle of technology.
I don’t expect to get anything back, but I am very impressed with the sheriff’s office. And a special thanks to Deputy Rockich for his efforts to stop this ring of thieves.
The irony is I had a 12-year-old store credit card for TJ Maxx that I figured I should use. It was for a grand total of $7.93.
If you have business or social news about Los Gatos, please let me know: debby@debbyrice.com.
