Week In Review: Outpouring of Sympathy

The week that ended with feelings of disorientation and sympathy in reflecting on the bereaved families of Newtown, Conn., began with some Lafayette news.  The city hired a high-powered construction firm to work around the clock to restore Mountain View Drive, which has a canyon running through it caused by the earth subsiding from a Dec. 2 sinkhole.

The pre-holiday season is also a season of political turnover, with city councils having reorganization meeting with their regular rotations of new people into one-year terms as mayor:

• That's Mike Anderson in Lafayette and
• Dave Trotter in Moraga.

On Wednesday, we ran a Moraga police blotter that included the tale of a bad guy trying to pass a counterfeit $100 bill at a hardware store. The clerk became suspicious with the guy flashing a Ben Franklin for a $6 purchase. The store returned the bill to the guy, who drove off in a Chevy SUV, with an apparently bogus license plate number.

One of the more popular stories of the week was a feature about the two-decade-old tradition of people bringing ornaments to hang on the plum tree on the path around Lafayette Reservoir.