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News From Silicon Valley's Neighborhoods Hot Wheels A group of valley Corvette-lovers are fuming after allegedly being rooked out of their cars by a dealer who says business simply went bad. Vector Vortex San Jose--After years of restrained behavior, the mighty rat is back. Seems Santa Clara County vector control fielded some 10,000 calls this year regarding infestations and sightings--the second-highest number ever. Los Gatos, San Jose, Cupertino and Gilroy rats can be particularly proud; the rat-call records dating back to 1990 for those communities snapped like gnawed-through attic support beams. Experts can't say exactly why this is so, but one agency official hints darkly at possible involvement by El Niño. The Fussy Child's contribution? Better hideouts in the form of lusher ivy banks. Morgan Transfer Los Gatos--Will the real architect begin rolling over in her grave, please? A distinctive mountain house, believed by some to have been designed by Julia Morgan of Hearst Castle fame, could be demolished this spring. The red Oriental-style house features a wraparound porch and upturned corner eaves, but those charms aren't enough to keep the Sisters of Presentation on Bear Creek Road from sending the earthquake-damaged house to its final resting place. The Los Gatos Museum Association is trying to raise the half-million dollars needed to dismantle and move the house. Name Game Saratoga--To float like scum or to run swiftly like the Pony Express that carried news of the debate over Saratoga's name to Harper's Bazaar? Last spring it seemed the rather embarrassing matter of Saratoga's name--reputed to be Iroquois for "floating scum upon the water"--was settled when then Mayor Don Wolfe publicly proclaimed the official translation to be "hillside country, place of swift water." Wolfe was in papers all around the country and on National Public Radio telling his feel-good story, but Harper's Bazaar is only now getting around to a story, due in February. Guess New York is farther away than we thought. [ Metro | Metroactive Central | Archives ]