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Letters
Trudy McCulloch made courageous decision on drugs
Bravo to Los Gatos High School Principal Trudy McCulloch! Her courage and depth of conviction shows her unwavering commitment to a drug-free campus.
While it is always tragic that youngsters are victims of substance abuse, it is reassuring to know that the principal is indeed a qualified, willing and engaging leader. I applaud her resolve to stand tough on this matter and to strive to give all students the safe learning environment they deserve. As the mother of a proud Los Gatos High School graduate and of and incoming student, I thank her for her effort.
Barbara Morosin
Los Gatos
Dog park would be a mistake at Belgatos Park
We have lived in this area for 36 years, and do not understand why the parks commission would consider Belgatos Park as a good place for a dog park, and then have it being proposed by a San Jose resident or group.
I've read several articles on the subject, talked with neighbors and agree with all of them; increased traffic with the change in the Mirrasou School property use, (i.e., Los Gatos Academy, Challenger School and a day care center), the Belgatos Park, residential growth and now a dog park.
The parents dropping off and picking up their children at the school has caused traffic jams, (cars lined up for half a block waiting to a make a left turn into the school parking lot) and speeding; they show very little concern about those of us who live nearby, at driveways or cross streets; very seldom does a day or week go by I don't have to pick up dog doo from local dog owners in our yard, driveway and/or sidewalk.
This behavior shows me dog owners don't care where there dog doos, and now we will have more of that all over the Belgatos Park; many dog owners never carry anything to pick up their dog doo, I know because I've called and offered them a bag, after their dog doos and they start walking away. The deer, wild turkeys, coyotes, wild boar and other wildlife will all disappear.
A dog park is not a good idea in this area.
Harold Jenkins
Los Gatos
Zero tolerance must mean just what it says
Trudy McCulloch deserves a hero's medal for her initiative and steely resolve in taking decisive action to help free Los Gatos High School from the scourge of drugs. At some point, the children need to know that we adults are deadly serious about the issue of drugs; the students need to know that Zero Tolerance means just that: ZERO TOLERANCE when it comes to drugs in, on, or around our schools. The children need to know that the adults are watching--that the adults care--and that the adults will mete out the Tough Love when the children blow us adults off.
We don't want our kids smoking dope before school or during school or after school; we don't want our kids drinking alcohol and engaging in risky behavior (like having unprotected sex, driving while intoxicated, or trying other drugs like methamphetamine or cocaine).
And we certainly don't want our kids setting themselves up for a lifetime of serious clinical depression, frying their seratonin receptors by abusing ecstasy. (Might I suggest the PBS Frontline special, "The Kids of Rockdale County," to any and all who might disagree with me on this matter).
All of the kids in our schools and all of the parents of all of the kids in our community need to know that anyone who brings drugs to school or even near a school will be ruthlessly hunted, found-out, arrested and expelled in much the same way we are currently pursuing Osama Bin Laden and his merry band of terrorists.
I have a 13-year-old niece in eighth grade and a 10-year-old nephew who live in the LGHS boundary, and I make no distinction between Osama Bin Laden and the kid who brings LSD, ecstasy or the Killer-Green-Stink-Bud to class: They are both threatening the lives of our children; they are both terrorists.
It is high time that the parents of the community begin teaching their children that drugs and school don't mix. For if the parents do not, the teachers, administrators, and law enforcement agencies will. The students need to know that, if they get busted with drugs on campus, there is very little that Mommy and Daddy can do to bail them out; that all the King's lawyers and all the King's men will shake their heads in collective despair because their client's kid got popped for possession of meth and pot on school grounds. Eventually the kids--and everyone else--will get the message.
My compliments, appreciation, and admiration to Dr. Trudy McCulloch for a job well done. Thank you for helping provide a safe, clean, and drug-free school environment for our kids!
Todd K. Dwyer
Educator, Saratoga High School
LGHS principal took courageous stand on drugs
I salute the Los Gatos High School administration, faculty and district office for their courage and commitment to our youth and for their actions this last year to bring an undercover police officer to derail the harmful and disruptive drug activities at Los Gatos High School. From the information available, I believe both the school and the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police acted in a way that was the least intrusive to the education process, and yet successful in removing almost two dozen drug dealers, most of whom were minors and students at the school.
For parents, the challenges facing teens today are of a different magnitude, with significantly different consequences and greater frequency than when they were the same age. Drugs on campus were so openly available the undercover agent was able to make a purchase the first day of class.
And a number of students arrested were ninth-graders, so they had arrived on campus in August already using and/or dealing. Middle school is not immune to these temptations and crimes.
Please consider what other students, who want to study, must face daily with these activities on campus--students who are disruptive and require significant resources and teacher time for discipline.
Because these students take time from their teachers, and take the class away from the academic subjects, all become victims. Having to watch drugs and alcohol used in their presence, students who want to study are penalized because they are not able to have the benefits of freedom to work without fear on campus.
I suggest that parents not just ask their students what happened at school with the arrests last week, but why.
What are your child's observations, and how are they dealing with the drug activity? Can they see how it affects what goes on in the classroom, on campus, or in areas around the school? What an opportunity to use such an event to open those discussions.
At this time of year, when we reflect on both the past and our future, invest the time to learn about the challenges teens deal with, and I salute those like our high school's administration who chose to do something about it, and called on those who could, to help them deal with something that is beyond the normal requirements for providing a good curriculum for a quality high school education.
Again, I thank all involved for working for our kids.
Lee Fagot
Los Gatos
Sobrato group shows it is about the money
Last May when the Sobrato Corporation took over the Riviera Terrace apartments, one of the first articles in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times about the tenant situation here had a quote from one of the executives of Sobrato Corporation which was: "it's not about the money" referring to arguable rent increases that were being imposed on the tenants.
Well, after months of hard work by the tenants it really was all about the money.
During the arbitration process many letters of hardship prepared by the tenants, particularly those that would be hardest hit by the rent increase--including one from me on behalf of my elderly mother--was refused by the arbitrator as well as the attorney for Sobrato.
In their opinion they were not going to read the letters anyway, because they were not interested in reading them. I can only deduct from this it is just about money.
In your editorial following the preceding mentioned article you said the town should judge Sobrato on how he was going to treat and take care of his present tenants. I think the town has its answer as well as the tenants. Show them the money!
Dennis Elia
Los Gatos
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
