When Ohlone President Gari Browning learned that Nick Nardolillo might be living in Livermore, she asked the school’s attorney if the college was under any obligation to investigate the matter.

Below is the attorney’s response, dated Dec. 11, 2009,  addressed to Ohlone executive Mike Calegari:

Dear Mr. Calegari,

I am responding to Dr. Browning’s inquiry to Paul Loya as to whether the District Superintendent or Governing  Board has any legal obligation to investigate the possibility that a Board member may no longer be meeting the residency requirements mandated by law for holding the office of Governing Board member.  We understand that neither the Superintendent nor the Board have actual knowledge of the nonresidency status of the Governing Board member at issue.

Based on the foregoing facts, we believe that the Superintendent and Governing Board have no legal duty or obligation to conduct an investigation of a nonresidency  rumor.  Since there is no statute or legal precedent requiring an investigation, there is no legal duty or obligation to take such action.  For your information, we are aware that other districts have been faced with this same issue and have chosen not to investigate.

Please contact me or Paul if you have any questions.

Janice J. Hein
Attorney at Law
Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo

From the cops:

Cops were responded a bit too late to catch a crook who burglarized a home on the 38200 block of Hastings Street.

A security check at the Train Depot in Centerville turned up a shady person with an outstanding warrant. Cops arrested him.

A one-year-old pushed out the screen to his grandma’s second floor apartment window and fell out onto some ivy. The rugrat was unhurt. The incident was at the Pinebrook Apartments in beautiful Centerville.

A perp or perps entered a home on the 600 block of Sylvaner through the kitchen window.  As an alarm sounded, He/they quickly left with some cash through a sliding glass door in the bedroom.

From the wire:

Tesla is featured in this article about whether taxpayers subsidies for energy efficient cars will really create jobs.

It seems like every year it takes the Chamber of Commerce more time to get through its business before the mayor can finally  give the State of the City Address. Mayor Wasserman didn’t begin his speech until about 1:30 p.m. today.

During the Chamber ramblings, I managed to snag someone else’s dessert and snatch all of the lunch rolls at a table that foolishly welcomed me to take a seat.

But as you can see in the above photo, Wasserman didn’t have the option to nibble. He had to wait out the Chamber folks all alone on the dais, listening to all of the speeches from behind, while rolling his own speech into a cylinder. At least he had a comfy looking chair.

To read Wasserman’s speech, click here.

No new Applebees this year, but the mayor did note the new Any Mountain and Nissan Dealership and Nordstrom Rack. He neglected to mention the new kebab house, several new Indian restaurants or the new Afghan Cultural Center.

He also played a five-minute promotional video with a special guest appearance from President Obama. If Tesla and Solyndra go under, someone at City Hall is going to be ordered to destroy every copy of that video and eradicate it from the internet.

We got confirmation today that the DA is investigating. No response from Nardolillo.

Ohlone could choose to investigate whether Nardolillo has violated board ethics policies, but the sense I got today is they’re happy to let the DA investigate. I’ll have a story in tomorrow’s paper.

From the cops:
Police arrested a man they had been seeking in connection with a vehicle theft after staking out his brother’s house.

Police scolded a mom on Deep Creek Road Tuesday for lying to them about her son’s whereabouts. She told officers she didn’t where her son was. Turned out he was standing in the hallway, and that’s where police arrested him for a felony warrant.

From the world of cricket:
Not to be a jinx, but it looks like it’ll be India vs Sri Lanka in World Cup Finals. Pakistan needs 176 runs with 8 wickets remaining. It would take the A’s four months to catch up.

From the world of free food:
Today is Bob Wasserman’s State of the City address. There’s no live blogging at the Fremont Marriott, but I can pretty much give you the entire speech in advance. Wasserman will lay out all the crap — he’ll chalks on an extra five minutes to this part when the city is seeking a parcel tax. Then he’ll talk about all the good stuff like the opening of yet another Applebees or a new auto dealership or construction of a new movie theater. Then he’ll say something hopeful. Then he’ll answer 1.5 questions from the Chamber people. Then we go home.

Direct from the cops about a name that’s no stranger to the police log:

The Fremont Police Department is asking for the public’s help in locating Andrew Toki.

Toki is a suspect in a shooting that occurred last night in front of the Diamond Palace Banquet Hall, where he is alleged to have fired several rounds into a crowd of party-goers. Fortunately only one person was struck by the gunfire, sustaining a non-life threatening injury to her foot.

Toki is a Fremont resident, however attempts to locate and arrest him have been unsuccessful. Toki should be considered armed and dangerous.

Toki is described as a Tongan Male, 19 yrs, 6’01″, 185 lbs, black hair and brown eyes.

At the time on the incident, Toki was accompanied by another, yet unidentified, male suspect that is also being sought. He is described as a Tongan Male, in his 20′s, with long black hair, last seen wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and jeans.

Anyone with information as to Toki’s whereabouts, or the identity of the second suspect is encouraged to contact the Fremont Police Department (510) 790-6800, or local Police agency.

This story about Ohlone College Trustee Nick Nardolillo living outside the district at his winery and home in Livermore for the past 11 years will run in Saturday’s paper. I wanted to give you guys some background on it.

You may recall late last year I wrote about the Ohlone College Board of Trustees passing over Nardolillo for board president even though it was his turn. A commenter on the blog went on tirade mostly about my crappy reporting, but also about Nardolillo living in Livermore.

I had heard those rumors too, mostly from other reporters, who had looked into it in 2004 when Nardolillo last ran in a contested election.

So I decided to investigate. And their is substantial evidence that Nardolillo lives in Livermore, where he owns a share of White Crane Winery and The Wild Vine wine bar.

I’ll save the details for the story, although later I might scan and attach some of the public records I found, including a sworn statement from Nardolillo’s attorney back in 2004 confirming that Nardolillo had, in fact, moved to Livermore.

I’ll also note this and this. Nardolillo says listing himself as a Livermore resident is more about promoting his winery.

I spent quite some time going over public records  before talking to Nardolillo, his ex-fiance and his ex-business partner

About 6 p.m. Monday, I knocked on Nardolillo’s front door in Livermore. He was home, but didn’t want to talk. I choose Monday because I knew his wine bar was closed Mondays, and if he was going to spend a night  in Fremont, it would probably be a Monday night.

At the same time I was in Livermore, another Argus reporter knocked on the Fremont residence where Nardolillo rents a room in return for $400 a month in free wine. Several tenants didn’t want to talk. They deferred to a woman who said that Nardolillo doesn’t live there.

At first Nardolillo was angry and figured my visit was about politics. He said something to the extent that certain political parties in Fremont make trouble if they don’t get their people into office.

But when we talked by phone on Thursday, he was open and helpful. He did provide me with tax returns filed from the Fremont address where he rents the room. He also provided me the rental agreement.

He says he has stayed at that home this year, but can’t recall his last visit.

He’s busy in Livermore. He said his situation wasn’t really different from Ohlone Trustee Garrett Yee being away when he was working in Iraq.

From the cops:
A woman loaded up on baby formula at the Charter Square Lucky’s and got away in a stolen 1994 Nissan Maxima. Cops have the plate, but not the crooks.

Cops arrested a man at a train station, who they said vandalized their jail earlier this week.

From the wire:
Here’s an in-depth story about what happened at Tuesday’s City Council meeting

Usually it ends up being  a joke when we do weather stories because there’s never any real weather in these parts.

But not today. 

Altamont Commuter Express already  has cancelled Friday service.

And on Niles Canyon Road, wider shoulders would have come in handy.  Here’s a photo from Gerry Mooney.

I can’t decide if that sounds delicious or vulgur.

Anyway, mud slides on Mission Boulevard and Niles Canyon Road.

From the cops:

Northbound Mission Boulevard, between Niles and Sullivan Underpass, is reduced to one lane of travel due to a mud slide.

Niles Canyon Road, traffic speeds reduced dramatically due to mud slides and water on the roadway.