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News From Silicon Valley's Neighborhoods New Kids Willow Glen--Adjusting to American ways can be daunting for some immigrants, especially the young ones. The Program for New Americans at Willow Glen High is specially tailored for those students who've landed in the U.S. in the past three years and want to glean something of its culture firsthand. After spending an entire semester studying government, 16 political aficionados jetted off to Washington, D.C., May 21 to see the sights. They're scheduled to chat with California U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, aiming for a chance encounter with none other than Bill Clinton himself. Out of Africa Sunnyvale--The world is one of disparity, extremes of poverty and wealth. No one has witnessed that fact more than Pastor Ditu Batupu Abel, a visiting preacher here for five weeks from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire). The Presbyterian Church of Sunnyvale, in the heart of the wealthy Silicon Valley, and Abel's home church in besieged Kinshasa partnered after his first visit to California in 1994. Local folks have since funded a new edifice for the Congolese congregation-- a much-needed gift in a country where insurgents have been attacking from all directions, slowing down food supplies and cutting off electricity. Bad Seed Sunnyvale--Saratogan moms and dads don't have to worry now that a long-term substitute music teacher at Saint Andrews has been jailed with $50,000 bail, arraigned on May 17. According to a 9-year-old girl's retelling of the story, John Maurer, who'd been teaching at the school since February, sexually molested her several weeks ago while she was staying at his house overnight, visiting some of his close kin. The little girl recounted the incident to her family, who immediately phoned police. [ San Jose | Metroactive Central | Archives ]