Features

Blessing ceremony held in hospital 

FREMONT — A special ceremony to get rid of restless spirits was held recently at the second floor patient care unit of the new hospital at the Kaiser Medical Center. 

Nurses that reported doors slamming, beds moving and staplers stapling on their own requested the ceremony. 

Some traditional Filipino rituals, like rocks with inscribed messages such as “peace,” “hope” and “tranquility,” were incorporated to it, said Rebecca Hathaway, director of hospital operations for Kaiser’s Fremont and Hayward facilities. 

On Nov. 4 hospital chaplain Laura Boles performed the ceremony. 

“Because we value the diversity of our employees and respect their beliefs, we decided to accommodate this request and lead a blessing ceremony in the hospital,” said Boles in a statement released Wednesday. 

The ceremony took place about 7 a.m. and involved about six people, Hathaway said. No patients were in the ward at the time. 

Hetch Hetchy pipeline back up 

SAN FRANCISCO — The head of San Francisco's Public Utilities Commission Thursday promised an investigation into what went wrong along a Hetch Hetchy pipeline this week and said water flow should return to normal shortly. 

Pat Martel said divers Wednesday evening made their way to the spot along a gate valve near Modesto where a pin had broken and replaced it, in addition to welding a broken coupling within the valve structure. After that action, around 5 p.m., the gate could open again. 

This was actually a second round of repairs to avoid the possibility of water rationing and get water flows back to normal for the region's 2.4 million customers. 

The first difficulties began Sunday, according to a department representative, when the leak at the San Joaquin Pipeline No. 3 led to an enormous geyser and a resulting drop in transported water. After that local reservoirs were tapped and suburban water users asked to draw upon other resources such as groundwater as much as possible, under emergency plans made previously. 

Archaeological finds to be protected 

CONCORD — The Navy’s recent decision to lease a former Indian village and burial ground to the city for a community park has raised questions about how to protect any archaeological finds, while still moving ahead with development. 

The Chupcans tribe lived for hundreds and possibility thousands of years at the village site in Concord where skeletons were plowed up 65 years ago during grading. The tribe lived in Central and Eastern Contra Costa County and perhaps parts of Solano County. 

“Here in our very back yards is an opportunity for school children to learn California wasn’t just settled in 1959,” said Dean McLeod, a Contra Costa Historical Society member who is writing a book on the Chupcans.