I just read Carl Heintze's piece in the Dec. 29 issue of the Cupertino Courier about cell phone usage. I couldn't agree more.

Every time I go to a grocery store, there are always a bunch of people going around the store asking whoever is on the other end of the line do we need this or that?

What ever happened to the good old grocery list? Better yet, is the person going through the video rental store virtually reading off every movie title and asking if they should rent it. And of course they all are yelling in the phone like we did when we were kids with two tin cans and a string.

I see people sitting in restaurants or in cars not saying a word to each other but the minute they are apart they need to talk incessantly with each other.

But here is the killer. The FAA for years has not allowed cell phones to be used on airplanes when they are in flight because they were worried that it would mess up the plane's electronics and cause a flight problem. Well the FAA has now determined that cell phones do not cause a problem in flight, so they are asking for public input on allowing cell phone usage on flights.

Can you just imagine a plane loaded with 300 people with half of them talking on their cell phones on let's say a trip to New York. They'll be sitting about six inches from you talking about every intimate thing in their life. I guarantee you that when that plane lands you will be ready to kill yourself.

Jim Carlisle

Cupertino

Teacher has a right, but
publicity got it wrong

Over seventy families from Stevens Creek Elementary School, Cupertino, have already agreed to this letter in support of the principal, Ms. Patricia Vidmar. This is in connection with a widely publicized lawsuit being brought against her and the Cupertino Union School District by the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, acting on behalf of Mr. Stephen Williams.

We fully respect the right of Mr. Williams, or any other teacher, to hold religious and/or political convictions. Teachers, however, bear a special responsibility to exercise discretion when expressing their views to students, particularly at elementary school level.

A number of complaints were raised by parents over a period of time, alleging proselytizing in the classroom. Whether these complaints were justified is now a matter for the courts to determine. But Ms. Vidmar had a responsibility to investigate such complaints, in order to protect the interests of the school, students, parents and staff, and not least those of Mr. Williams himself.

We would expect similar treatment for any teacher persistently alleged to be promoting their personal views, whether for example about Christianity, Islam, or atheism, or about the Republican or Democratic parties.

It is regrettable that Ms. Vidmar eventually felt compelled to vet lesson plans for the kind of material that Mr. Williams was liable use in a way to cause complaint. Knowing Ms. Vidmar to be a fair and reasonable person, we are certain that this is not an action she took lightly.

We respect the right of Mr. Williams to appeal to the courts in this matter. But we are dismayed at the way in which this local dispute has been whipped up into a national political circus. We find it astonishing to read frequent and false assertions that "the Declaration of Independence has been banned" from the school.

Mr. Williams is not the only devout Christian teacher at Stevens Creek, so reports that he has been singled out for scrutiny solely because of his Christianity seem implausible. And we certainly cannot condone the hate mail that Ms. Vidmar and other staff members have been receiving from all over the country.

The very public way in which the Alliance Defense Fund has pursued this case does nothing to serve the interests of the children, parents and staff of Stevens Creek School. We have every confidence that Ms. Vidmar will continue to represent these interests, and wish to thank her for her service in running such an excellent, open and tolerant school.

Richard Crouch
and 70-plus other
Stevens Creek Parents

Cupertino

School controversy was
in Swedish newspaper

Here in Sweden the news of the Stevens Creek School controversy over Stephen Williams lawsuit filled half a page today in Sweden's largest newspaper.

I just want to say that I support Principal Patricia Vidmar and her fight against those who want to change your country into a religious state.

It was only a few years ago that the Swedish state and the Christian church separated. They had lived together for hundreds of years. I do not mind religion but it is a dead end for any government to walk down that road. It will come back as intolerance against those who do not believe.

Stefan Westlund

I only include this letter because it is interesting that people as far away as Sweden are reading about this controversy. --Editor

For many, buying a
home is unaffordable

Mr. Perkins makes today's real estate market sound like a carnival.

The sad fact is that a lot of folks are being excluded from the market. These folks are married with children. If they currently own a mortgage, the likelihood that they can buy another home is very slim unless their combined income is over, say $100,000, and they are not off balance on their budgets. Anybody else with incomes below that is probably out of luck.

Perkins writes about real estate agents who are "mystified" as to why the market is behaving this way. But there is no mystery here. We live in a capitalistic economy. The chief characteristic being that aberrations will occur. It touches every aspect of the economy. If there is any mystery, Mr. Perkins, it's when will the bubble burst. That also is a characteristic of a capitalistic economy. The scenario in that instance will be a massive disruption of the markets.

Perkins is sadly mistaken if he thinks that this is a time to party. The driving force behind this market is the same driving force that caused the secular depression in the real estate markets in the early 90s. Only this time, the waste will be much greater and the impact more intensified.

In the meantime, what about all those who are working but excluded from buying home, and don't they have enough income?

So here's a thought: Who needs a real estate agent anyway? There are other ways to buy a home and that will increase dramatically.

Mike Davis

San Jose