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News From Silicon Valley's Neighborhoods Sinking Feeling Residents along the ever-flooding Llagas Creek in Morgan Hill say politics have diverted funds that would have kept their houses dry. Safety Dance West Valley--This just in ... Los Gatos and Saratoga schools are extremely safe, and district officials have been instructed to make sure they remain so. Since 1995, school districts have been required to compile rates for drug and alcohol offenses, assault with a deadly weapon, robbery, sex offenses, weapon possessions, property crimes, and loss per student. This year, officials gloat that students in the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District are using fewer drugs and stealing far less than the state average. Last year, there were 7.12 drug and alcohol offenses per 1,000 students, compared to 11.76 statewide, and for the second year the district had not one incident of robbery. Marriage Money Willow Glen--The Rev. Vaughn Beckman is a man on a mission. Executive director of the Council of Churches of Santa Clara Valley, he's raising money to take on the Defense of Marriage Act, slated to go before California voters next year. Beckman is trying to raise $25,000 to publish a "study guide" opposing the initiative. This might be an easier feat than he previously thought. "I was hoping we could raise $5,000 and we already passed that after two phone calls," he says. Annexation Celebration Cupertino--"Yippee," shouted Marc Auerbach, chair of the Rancho Pocket Annexation Committee. The Cupertino City Council had just voted to annex Auerbach's home and 1,500 others like it in the previously unincorporated neighborhood of Rancho Rinconada. "Cupertino has already come through and marked our sidewalks to estimate the amount of repair," he said. "That's something the county never did." To Auerbach's delight, Cupertino officially swallows the Rancho on March 15. To greet the 4,200 new residents, the expanding burb will host an informational fair and party at 10am on April 17 at Sedgwick Elementary School.. [ Metro | Metroactive Central | Archives ]