"Stop" is a four-letter word that two out of three Cupertino drivers choose to ignore. My cat was the victim of a hit and run on July 3. Who's next? My child? A neighbor's teenager? An elderly relative?

"Stop" is not a negotiable traffic law only to be heeded when there are other cars at an intersection. It means stop--not rolling past stop signs when there is no one else around.

I live in the Rancho Rinconada neighborhood and there is entirely too much speeding and stop sign violating in this neighborhood and throughout Cupertino.

I've requested the sheriff's office to step up their patrols of the neighborhood. But they can only do so much with the staff they have. According to the California Highway Patrol, a full stop is when the car body rocks back on its back wheels. It only takes a second!

It's up to each and every one of us to heed stop signs before there are grieving parents along with grieving pet owners as a result of heedless acts of out-of-control drivers.

Maybe the Cupertino City Council should consider allocating the fireworks fund to translating stop signs into multiple languages so no one in the city will have an excuse to ignore the meaning of the word stop!

—Debra Griffin, Cupertino


Policy may stunt efforts for library monies

Jennifer Zhang's article in your July 16 edition, "City council drafts policy to recognize contributors," was accurate as far as it went. However, it did not mention the effects the new policy and its changes will have on the ability of the Cupertino Library Foundation's campaign committee to raise funds to furnish the new Cupertino Library.

A major concern of the Cupertino Library Foundation regarding this new policy is that it overturns the city council votes of 5-0 and 4-1 in July 2002 and in March 2003. Those votes, upon which the campaign committee relied, formalized a process in which the campaign committee receives checks from "qualified" donors who either live in Cupertino or are associated with Cupertino and, if requested, grants them recognition in the form of naming opportunities for specific dollar amounts as well as providing for a plaque in the new library in recognition of donations.

The new policy approved by the city council on July 7, 2003 sets up an entirely different process by providing that any donor and the amount of the donation must be approved first by the city manager and then by a vote of the city council in public session.

The city council requested the new policy to be agendized for Aug. 4, 2003 for acceptance of minor clarifying language and for formal adoption as a resolution.

If the city council does not modify the new policy, as they discussed, to exempt donors whose donations and pledges have already been received, they, too, will have to go through this new process.

The new process will have a chilling effect on the fundraising efforts of the campaign committee. Potential donors have already said that they are not willing to donate if it involves them in a public political process where a possible rejection would damage their reputations.

If the policy is formalized without changes, it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to conduct a successful fundraising campaign to furnish the new library. The city council has been formally notified by the library foundation board of its serious concerns about the impact of the policy on the fundraising process.

—Barbara Rogers, Chairwoman, Cupertino Library Committee


Dentists here since the 1940s

I was amused to read in the July 9 Courier that Dr. John Ludwig opened Cupertino's first dental office in 1969. My former dentist, Dr. Elmer A. Holand, DDS, began his Cupertino practice in 1944.

Dr. Holand became our family dentist when we moved from Santa Clara to Cupertino in 1964. I also believe a couple other dentists began practices in Cupertino a few years after Dr. Holand, and before Dr. Ludwig began practicing here. Maybe their former patients can remember them?

Also, I do want to congratulate Dr. Ludwig on his 34 years of practicing here.

—Steve Wesolowski, Cupertino