Worthy women to be honored this Friday

Other inductees are: Andrea Jones, who works to improve the well-being of children and families; Alyson Suzuki, who advocates for improved language access for Asian families and other underserved communities; and two high school students, Danika Gonzalez Johnson of Half Moon Bay High School and Amani Shroff of Carlmont High School in Belmont.

Tickets to Friday’s event, sponsored by the county’s Commission on the Status of Women, are priced at $45. Call (650) 892-6653 for more information.

In a related note, this Sunday is going to be celebrated as International Women’s Day.

COUGARS FACED A TALL ORDER: Also on the female side of the cultural ledger, for years, the California Interscholastic Federation has touted an emphasis on the importance of fair and equitable competition for high school student-athletes. Utterly overmatched girls’ basketball players at Half Moon Bay High School must be feeling left out of that lofty stated priority. They were assigned to play in the CIF’s high-level Central Coast Section Open Division playoffs against several of the top private/parochial teams in the West Bay Area last month. They lost all three of their games by a staggering margin of 52 points per contest. Half Moon Bay is a public school program with a roster comprised of coastside neighborhood teens; the private/parochial teams have no enrollment boundaries at all.

Those schools are free to use players from just about anywhere, including overseas if housing is available for them. Fair and equitable? Not.

THIS SERVICE PRESERVES PAST: Technological advances have been coming so often and so quickly, what’s new today is old tomorrow. It’s inevitable. So it’s no wonder that recording mechanisms like 8 mm films, Super 8, cassettes and VHS tapes are considered passe now. For most us, they sit in desk drawers or on garage shelving gathering dust. But they are often valuable records of the past. The San Mateo County Library System is here to help preserve them via its Memory Labs that can convert many of those treasures into a modern digitized format. You can call (833) 937-7625 for assistance with this free service which is offered at a number of county-run libraries.

NATURE HIKE IS SCHEDULED: Steelhead trout don’t have it easy when it comes to heading back home along Pescadero Creek. It can be a difficult and sometimes perilous spawning journey through the meandering waterway in San Mateo County’s Memorial Park that empties into the ocean. A guided hike by County Parks to check out that route and the trout’s challenges will be conducted this Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m. For details and requirements, interested participants can contact County Parks’ Katherine Wright at (650) 269-8124. Significant rain will cancel the hike.

A CAUTIONARY NOTE: When The Wall Street Journal first revealed that the California Teachers Association is coordinating and orchestrating strikes and strike threats throughout the state, a disturbing situation began to make some sense. But the union’s behavior may end up being counter-productive. Why? Because it could become a turn-off for informed voters who are asked to tax themselves to support their public schools with new bond packages and parcel taxes. What’s more, the result of paying for wage hikes and improved benefits (health insurance, pensions, etc.) often requires budget cuts like school closures, special programs and staff layoffs. Be careful what you wish for.

VALLEMAR STATION TO CLOSE: A landmark Pacifica dining spot is headed for closure either this month or next. The Vallemar Station restaurant and bar, located on the Cabrillo Highway not far from Rockaway Beach, has been serving customers for decades. But times and circumstances have changed. The Ash Family can no longer operate it. The building once housed a depot used by travelers on the old Ocean Shore Railroad. Reportedly, a new eatery may take over the site at some point later this year.

PACIFICA SCHOOLS NAME LEADER: Also in Pacifica, Dr. Carisa Bowman has been appointed superintendent of the coastal community’s public elementary school district. Her contract runs through the 2028-29 academic year. She has been the district’s acting superintendent since the summer of 2025. The district faces a number of worrisome challenges. Declining enrollment, campus closures and related fiscal problems top the list. She has her work cut out for her.