From the archives

Contract negotiations between the San Mateo Union High School District and the teachers union came to a halt the week of Nov. 18, 2006 when the teachers declared an impasse.

Both sides signed off to go to mediation. Negotiations began months prior — with a slight delay because of budget woes — with no success. The San Mateo High School District Teachers Association planned to file one to five unfair labor practice charges with the Federal Labor Regulations Authority because of negotiation tactics used by the district negotiation team.

It’s a $30,000 difference between the coverage wanted by the teachers and the benefit cap the district proposed. Both sides hoped the mediation would be helpful in resolving talks that were stuck on health benefits.

Teachers agreed to accept no pay raise, because of the budget concerns facing the district earlier that year.

Brothel ring busted

Two men were arrested in Colorado on suspicion of running multiple brothels in Pacifica, Foster City, Cupertino and as far away as Colorado, Pacifica police announced the week of Nov. 18, 2006.

Kwor Chou, 29, of Colorado and Ri Luo, 41, of Oakland, were arrested on four felony counts each of pimping and pandering. The two were served with $20,000 arrest warrants out of Pacifica by the Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force, which was already running a separate investigation of brothels in the Denver area, authorities said.

Teacher fired for blood draw

A substitute science teacher at Redwood City’s Kennedy Middle School was fired the week prior to Nov. 18, 2006 after allowing several seventh-grade students to share the same instrument to draw blood during an experiment, potentially putting them at risk for blood-borne illnesses, the school’s principal Warren Sedar said.

The teacher was conducting a science experiment to study cells, and had about 20 students volunteer to have their fingers pricked to test their blood, using lancets similar to those a diabetic would use to test blood sugar. While being supervised by the teacher, some of the students shared the same lancets to draw blood.

Belmont meth lab under probe

State authorities were investigating a small methamphetamine lab discovered in Belmont the week of Nov. 18, 2006.

Belmont police and the Belmont-San Carlos Fire Department responded to a residence at 926 South Road on a possible hazardous materials incident around 9:25 p.m. on Sunday of that week. An employee at the nearby Walgreens called 911 after spotting smoke coming from the garage, according to the initial 911 call.

Agents from the San Mateo County Narcotics Task Force and the California State Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement responded and removed chemicals and glass containers with separated liquids. The lab was considered small and produced less than 10 pounds of methamphetamine.

From the archives highlights stories originally printed five years ago this week. It appears in the Thursday edition of the Daily Journal.