Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Letters

Los Gatos doesn't need more exposure to outside world

I am writing as a concerned parent. I am opposed to letting the Oakland Raiders have a summer camp in Los Gatos.

I do not countenance opening the door to the general public that might be interested in the Raiders. I am concerned because things seem a bit out of hand already. We do not need any more exposure to the outside world. How is it that our town can arbitrarily decide to shelter the Raiders? I think that we should all be able to vote on such a proposal.

I know our community loves and cares for our children because of all the effort that goes into passing the parcel taxes for the schools, the high percentage of parent participation at the schools, community functions supporting CASA and the merchants' contributions to the schools. These activities and contributions make for an exceptional community.

On the other hand, my son and his friends have had some frightening experiences that no child should have, especially one in elementary school. On two separate occasions this school year, my son and two of his friends have been chased home from school by teenagers in cars that appeared (by their dress, chains on their pants, and their old, beat-up cars) not to be from Los Gatos. The police said they routinely stop anyone that looks suspicious and question them and then send them on their way.

One other time, my son was followed home from school by a man in a car; when a neighbor saw what was happening, she called the police, giving them the license number of the car. The police came and investigated. Fortunately, my son and his friends have been able to elude their terrorists by riding their bikes down dead-end streets on which only pedestrians can get through or by running through the back yards of homes and condominiums. These kinds of things should not be happening in our town.

I was born and raised in Los Gatos, and I'm living here raising my son because of the sense of community and the good schools. Let's not let things deteriorate.

Colise Tack Delzell

Los Gatos

DeCinzo helps us laugh at ourselves

Responding to Bill Ferguson's letter in the Jan. 31 issue of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times: Steven DeCinzo's cartoons are more often funny than not, and that's good enough, in my opinion.

I say we're lucky to have the services of a world-class political cartoonist. I support Police Chief Larry Todd, too, but I would sorely miss DeCinzo's weekly wit.

C'mon . . . who wants to live with folks that can't laugh at themselves?

Alastair Dallas

Los Gatos

DeCinzo's as American as Apple Pie

I read with interest Bill Ferguson's letter about political cartoonist Steven DeCinzo's style.

DeCinzo follows in the American tradition of exposing politicians who seem to have lost whatever common sense they might once have had. Often his cartoons, like a one-man Boston Tea Party, have prodded me to learn more about local issues.

There are plenty of spin-doctors ready to perform damage control after a political faux pas. Steven DeCinzo is merely spinning things counterclockwise, as any "evil twin" would do.

Rick Auricchio

Los Gatos
via Virtual Valley

Football team offers nothing for town

Bringing the Raiders to Los Gatos High for summer practice will do nothing for the town, the surrounding neighborhood, the people who use the high school on a regular basis, or the retail base.

This idea is a poor and flawed encore to the positive impact wrought by the Brazilian soccer team in our town. Let's set our sights on achieving direct and measurable benefits from our plans.

Mary Curtis

Los Gatos
mcurtis@pacifico.com

Time machine would show neo-Nazis what troops saw

I just read Bob Aldrich's opinion piece in the Jan. 24 edition of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times about the neo-Nazi show on KCAT-TV proclaiming the Holocaust never happened. Bob did an in-depth article on me in August 1992 regarding my taking one of the first patrols into Dachau, Germany, in April 1945.

It's too bad we can't go back in time, as I would personally like to take Ernst Zuendel and others of his ilk, on that morning of April 29, 1945, into Dachau and perhaps leave them there with the starving wretches we found.

Shame on KCAT for showing such a program.

The $60,000 given KCAT by Los Gatos would be better spent on a sidewalk steam cleaner.

C. Paul Rogers

Los Gatos

There is no way anyone who's been to Dachau could doubt

I want to thank Bob Aldrich for writing the commentary about Channel 6 and the "Holocaust Hoax" in the Jan. 24 issue of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times.

I will never forget my trip to Dachau--one could never doubt the mass exterminations after that. And the movie, Shoa.

I've always thought it was pathetic that my grandfather, a German, was in Berlin in 1934 on a trip from the United States (he immigrated to the United States at age 14); he gave the keynote sermon to the World Baptist Alliance and excoriated the United States for its profit and business ethics, not knowing that Dachau had been in existence for two years. Hitler had them fooled.

Keep up the good work.

Bill Johnson

Monte Sereno

Article misstated information about fitness credentials

The article about personal trainers in the Jan. 31 issue of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times gave incomplete and incorrect information about Body Firm, the business I own, and misquoted me. I would like to make corrections to that article.

First, the article misrepresented Body Firm's credentials. The statement that I am not certified is not true. I am certified as a personal trainer, a weight room instructor, an aerobic instructor and a massage therapist.

Also, the reporter neglected to mention that Body Firm's head trainer, Lisa Richardson, is not only a registered dietitian but also holds a master's degree in exercise physiology. In addition, Body Firm's four other trainers also hold the highest levels in certification and college education.

Julie Larsen

owner, Body Firm
Personal Fitness Training

Thanks for getting facts about Cord right

As a past national president of the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Club and a longtime Cord owner, I enjoyed John Baggerly's "Pictures From the Past" column about Tom Moore's 1936 Cord Model 810 Westchester in the Jan. 17 issue of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times. And, unlike many articles on this machine, you got the facts right.

I am duty-bound, however, to take issue with Mr. Shaw's recollection that the Cord was "overweight and underpowered." The supercharged version of this car held the American stock car speed record of over 107 m.p.h. from 1937 to 1953.

Even my unsupercharged car, identical to the one in the article, loafs along comfortably at today's traffic speeds.

It is true that the glass area is small compared to today's greenhouses-on-wheels. But one gets used to it. I've driven my Cord nearly all the way across the country twice in the past three years--once on Route 66, once on the old Lincoln Highway--and hit nary a thing!

Thanks for giving these grand old vehicles a mention.

Josh B. Malks

San Jose
Carkeeper@aol.com

Bean counters risk losing exemplary child-care center

The Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose is in the process of being "rescued" by Columbia/HCA. Towards that end, a plan is in progress to sever ties with the accredited onsite child-care center. This center, which is the part-time home to over 200 children--both staff and community--is a true diamond in the rough that does not fit in with the ongoing bottom-line dollar accounting analysis.

However, it is a valuable employee benefit and model to the business community of responsible, quality commitment to family child care.

I could cite study after study that correlates quality child care to improved employee efficiency. However, I believe the real asset currently in the hands of the new administration is the image and message this center provides.

These days where two-wage marriages and working single parents are a necessity, children and child care are important components in the work environment. Being able to point to the Good Samaritan Child Care Center and say, "Look Silicon Valley, here's a model of child care that matches our commitment to health care," is better than any other health care system advertising campaign I've seen.

I offer up an important challenge to the administration at Good Samaritan Hospital: Find a way to keep the center working as is--fully accredited, with flexible scheduling and the same staff and philosophy.

This can be accomplished several ways. One way would be to work out a rate and minimum weekly hour increase, without adding a [new] management company; that would offset some of the current subsidies that are driving the bean counters wild. Another way would be to ensure that any management company hired to take over would receive adequate subsidies to keep the center as is.

If this challenge isn't met, I surmise the hospital's new administration will have a tarnished image, upset staff and community, and a mass exit of parents and children from the center.

Kent Haake

Los Gatos
Khak@aol.com

A spokeswoman at Good Samaritan Hospital told the Los Gatos Weekly-Times that a call for bids for the management of the child-care center has gone out and that a process is in place for making the final decision. Parents are asked to bring their ideas to Ken Buback, senior vice president for human resources. The spokeswoman said there are no plans to drop the program, which is used primarily by employees. --Editor