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News From Silicon Valley's Neighborhoods Oral-B Inventor Dies Willow Glen--Longtime Willow Glen resident Robert William Hutson died May 20 at age 81. Huston invented of the Oral-B toothbrush and established the first periodontics practice in the San Jose area. In World War II Hutson was an ensign in the U.S. Navy and as a dentist his job was to identify casualties from their dental records. After seeing his patients bruise their gums with stiff-bristled brushes, Hutson set about creating a toothbrush that would be gentle on the gums but strong enough to clean teeth properly. His idea to use a larger number of soft nylon bristles with more tufts made Oral-B one of the world's most widely used toothbrushes, selling 5 million a year within the first 10 years of its creation. Andronico's Withdraws Cupertino--The Oaks Theatre is staying put--for now. The Andronico's Market chain had planned to demolish the popular discount movie theater as well as a dance school and an unused restaurant, and replace them with a 32,160-square-foot upscale grocery store, complete with a cooking school. Now, however, the Bay Area company that began in Berkeley has withdrawn its request, citing delays in the construction of its new location in downtown Walnut Creek. Better Than Nothing Campbell--Resident Shelley Ruble, 29, just won $3 million. Well, sort of. The administrative assistant was declared the winner of WebMillion.com's jackpot, but the problem is that the company can't give Ruble all of the money right away. Instead, she'll receive $15,000 a year until she's 69, when the dotcom says it will fork over $2.4 million. "I'm not crazy about it, to be honest, but it's better than nothing," Ruble told the Campbell Reporter. [ San Jose | Metroactive Central | Archives ]