MENLO PARK

PERSON OF INTERESTNAME: SHANNON STEVEN HODGSON FOXD.O.B.: June 22, 1985HEIGHT: 6 feet 2 inchesWEIGHT: 220, muscularCONTACT: Detective TimBrackett at 650-330-6345,or call the anonymous tipline at 650-330-6395

The Peninsula’s Premier Funeral Service ProviderFuneral Home FD132

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SATURDAY, 11/14/09 baydailynews.com ATHERTON EAST PALO ALTO LOS ALTOS LOS ALTOS HILLS MENLO PARK MOUNTAIN VIEW PALO ALTO PORTOLA VALLEY REDWOOD CITY SAN CARLOS STANFORD WOODSIDE

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Girl dies after hit-and-run Staterequests probe ofVA hospital

n Police ask public to help find ‘person of interest’ in deadly street race crash

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MAKING A SPLASHMAKING A SPLASH

PALY TIE, LOS GATOS LOSS GIVES VIKINGS LEAGUE TITLE B1

NASA Ames finds water in debris from lunar strike A3

BY JESSICA BERNSTEINWAXDaily News Staff Writer

The state consumer affairs department has formally requested an investigation into the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, where 23 glaucoma patients experienced significant vision loss while receivingtreatment.

California Department of Consumer Af-fairs Director Brian Stiger made the requestin response to an administrative petition the California Academy of Eye Surgeons and Physicians , the American Glaucoma Soci-ety and the California Medical Associationfiled in September with his agency.

“As the events at the VA hospital doconcern consumers, I am formally request-ing that the Board of Optometry, together with the Medical Board of California, in-vestigate the occurrences at the Palo AltoVeterans Affairs Hospital regarding the eye

BY JESSICA BERNSTEINWAXDaily News Staff Writer

A 6-year-old Menlo Park girldied Friday afternoon from inju-ries she sustained in a high-speed, hit-and-run car crash a day earlier, police said.

The unidentifiedchild was travel-ing in the back seat of a blue ToyotaCamry with her parents at about 2 p.m. Thursday when a black Mus-tang headed northbound on Bayfront Expressway ran a red light at WillowRoad and plowed into the car, Menlo Park police Sgt. Matthew Ortegasaid Friday. The Toyota was headed east on Willow Road to the Sun Mi-crosystems complex.

The girl’s mother, who was rid-ing in the passenger seat, remainedin stable condition at a local hospi-tal with mild head trauma and some broken bones, Ortega said. The fa-ther was driving the car and didn’t suffer any major injuries.

Police believe the black Mus-tang, abandoned at the scene afterthe accident, was in a street race with a white Honda or Toyota. The cars were traveling at a “high rate of speed” in the 50-mph zone, Ortega

said. After the crash, the Mustang driver apparently jumped into the other car, which then headed west-bound on Willow.

Officers spoke with the Mus-tang’s registered owner and deter-mined that person wasn’t driving the car. They are searching for 24-year-old Shannon Fox, of East Palo Alto, a person of interest in the case, Ortega said.

“We will definitely find the per-son that did this and help bring him to justice,” Ortega said.

Sun Microsystems employees who witnessed the four-car crash told The Daily News on Thursdaythat the Mustang may have been going as fast as 70 mph. The com-pany’s video camera picked up thecrash, but the license plate of the other suspect vehicle isn’t visible, Ortega said.

Menlo Park police were storing the victim’s crumpled car in their lot Friday afternoon. A small cross hung from the rear-view mirror.

Police are asking anyone whomay have witnessed the crash to call 650-330-6300.

E-mail Jessica Bernstein-Waxat jbernstein@dailynewsgroup.

BY DIANA SAMUELSDaily News Staff Writer

Even with all the heat Sacramento lawmakers take for enabling a budget crises and partisan bicker-ing, there’s at least one group of young people who want to fill their shoes — for a few days, at least.

In Palo Alto and other cities across the United States, high school students with an interest in poli-

tics join YMCA Youth and Government programs,where they write bills, practice parliamentary proce-dure and ultimately hash it all out in the halls of state capitols as they play the roles of legislators, lobby-ists and other politicos.

Palo Alto Family YMCA’s Youth and Govern-ment program has grown in recent years and now has more than 30 students from Palo Alto High, Gunn and other local schools who spend six months gear-

ing up for a five-day trip to Sacramento. On Thurs-day, they brought a set of bills to Palo Alto City Hall for feedback from city officials, and this weekend they’re taking their first out-of-town trip of the year.

“I follow the news and follow politics pretty re-ligiously, so when I saw this I got into it,” Kuran Freyermuth, a 15-year-old Paly sophomore, said at one of the group’s recent weekly meetings.

n 23 glaucoma patientssuffered serious vision loss

PALO ALTO

YMCA Youth and Government program lets high-schoolers give lawmaking a try

CHRISTMAS BUREAU:

ONTHEMARKETRealtors group says home prices will rise by 4 percent in 2010 asmarket continues reboundPAGE C1

Full weather report, B12

MOSTLYSUNNYHigh: 62; Low: 40

JAMIEOLIVERCOOKS UPHEALTHYRECIPES Top TV chef wants you to eatbetter and for less moneyUSA WEEKEND, INSIDE

$29,000Help families in need this holidayseason; send donations to theChristmas Bureau of Palo Alto atP.O. Box 51874, Palo Alto, 94303

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Teens lay down the law

VA HOSPITAL, page A5

Meghan Byrd, 15,from left, Grace Keller, 15, Al Brooks, 14, and Lucas Brooks, 14, listen toDiego Marin, 17, ofEast Palo Alto, (notpictured) present abill he authored to a panel of officialsat Palo Alto City Hall on Thursday. Diego’sbill was an act to amend Section12814 of the VehicleCode. Members ofPalo Alto FamilyYMCA’s Youthand Government program arepracticingparliamentary procedure inpreparation for a five-day trip to theCalifornia Capitol inFebruary.Kat Wade / Daily News

Kat Wade / Daily News

Sgt. Matthew Ortega stands in the Menlo Park Police Department lot, where the crumpled remains of a car struck during a deadly hit-and-run are being stored, on Friday.A 6-year-old girl died of injuries she suffered Thursday at the intersection of BayfrontExpressway and Willow Road.

LAWMAKERS, page A5

ALSO: STANFORD OPENS BASKETBALL SEASON

Palo Alto High’s quarterbackT.J. Braff