From the archives

Attorneys for Scott Peterson sought a delay of the double-murder trial scheduled to begin in February 2004 because the case conflicted with another trial being handled by his defense lawyers, according to a court filing.

The motion for a continuance was filed Jan. 30, 2004 in San Mateo County Superior Court by Peterson attorney Mark Geragos.

Geragos is expected in court Tuesday in Los Angeles County where he is representing Brett Williams of Pasadena. Williams is charged with murder and several counts of assault with a deadly weapon in the 2002 shooting death of his former wife, prosecutor Kathleen Cady said.

The judge on that case, which was expected to last 10 days, refused to grant Geragos a delay, Geragos wrote in his motion.

Retired Alameda County Judge Alfred A. Delucchi was assigned to preside over the Peterson case. The trial is scheduled to begin Monday in Redwood City.

City in crisis: Radical cuts begin

Trees will no longer be trimmed. Streets won’t get paved and library and recreation hours are being scaled back. Even the police and fire departments are re-organizing to operate with fewer resources.

Sound familiar? That was five years ago this week.

"We have to cut as much as we can, as quickly as we can,” said then City Manager Arne Croce.

The City Council was set to review a presupposed $3 million in cuts the week of Jan. 31, 2004, with recommendations that many of those cuts would take effect immediately. The 5 percent budget reduction is on top of the 10 percent reduction the city already made the previous year. That brings the total reduction to a devastating $9 million.

"You can squeeze out the first 5 percent and pry out the next 5 percent. After that, it’s cutting,” said Croce.

School district faces lawsuit

A controversial idea to rope a national retailer like Wal-Mart, Kohl’s or Dillard’s onto school property has instead netted a lawsuit for the San Bruno Park Elementary District and brought internal feuding to new heights the week of Jan. 31, 2004.

A lawsuit that alleges board members were out for personal gain was filed by VB Golf, tenant on a prime 20-acre spot by the freeway where the former Engvall Middle School stood.

That winter, the board reviewed possible development scenarios presented by Bear Creek Developers to lure a major box retailer onto the site; one case had the district making about $1 million in rent for the next 30 years. Once that 30-year lease is up, the district would find itself the owner of a facility that could be worth about $57 million.

Police standoff clears neighborhood

San Mateo SWAT team members surrounded a house in San Mateo for more than four hours Jan. 29, 2004 because a suicidal man barricaded himself in his home afternoon. The man surrendered and was taken away without incident.

A four-hour standoff in San Mateo’s Shoreview neighborhood ended peacefully when a suicidal resident gave himself up to police and handed over his gun.

The resident barricaded himself inside his home at the corner of Daisy Street and Evergreen Avenue. His roommates notified his sister who in turn called San Mateo police shortly after 11 a.m. and notified them of her severely depressed brother.

San Mateo’s SWAT team and officers from the San Mateo, Foster City and Hillsborough police responded to the call and evacuated adjacent houses as a safety precaution. Daisy Street and parts of Dale Avenue and Cottage Grove avenues were blocked off for ambulances, police cars and the San Mateo mobile command post.

From the archives highlights that occurred five years ago this week. It appears in the Thursday addition of the Daily Journal.