Letters

There's no better place in the world that I could live

I want to thank all of the people who turned out recently at Forbes Mill to help me commemorate my 75th birthday. The surprise open-house party was the perfect setting for me and a couple hundred longtime friends, acquaintances and former colleagues. We were able to reminisce about past victories and defeats, old friends and worthy opponents as well as to reflect upon how we people who dwell in the ever-changing Valley of Heart's Delight truly have been--and continue to be--children of good fortune.

We live in the best of times in what we deem to be the best area of the best country in the history of the world. Kings of less than a century ago would envy the circumstances the most average of us enjoy daily in this community.

Wonderful circumstances aside, the best, most wonderful situation of all is to be wrapped in a warm blanket of good-hearted people, surrounded by affection and loving forgiveness for one's warts. There is neither a better place nor a better time in the past 2,000 years to live than in this community today--but for me it is made thus by the many good-hearted people of this community I have come to know.

I thank you all collectively in the fear that I would leave someone out if done individually. Each of you is dear to me. And, all of you, collectively, are the reason I will never sell my home at a profit to make myself economically comfortable in a new place where the quality of friends could never be duplicated--even though God might grant me another 75 years to strive to replace you.

I do reserve one special thank you for my best friend of the past 30 years, my ever-present reminder of how kindness looks and behaves, Patti Hughes. I have already forgiven her and her partners in duplicity for the deceit involved in planning the surprise.

With love, gratitude and overwhelming happiness, I thank you.

Ted Simonson
Los Gatos

Mrs. Jennings saved the day for family pet

It is truly amazing that one evening can completely alter the mood in one house. On Jan. 21, while I was out of the house, my parents sat alone with the dogs. With the usual commotion of tapping paws and wagging tails, a signal for the need of the great outdoors, the girls managed to slip into the front yard. As you know, Layla, our 10-month-old bouncing mass of energy, managed her way across Winchester Boulevard. On her way home, she was hit by a man with a heart of stone.

He left her there to die on the side of a virtual freeway. One woman, with a heart of gold, pulled to the side of the road, and lifted our little girl into the back of her van. My father, worried that the woman was in need of help, crossed this same street to find his baby, the one thing that forced him to smile after a long day, lying helpless in this woman's care.

Together, they went to the emergency clinic. My father barely understood her name, and then she left.

Mrs. Jennings, it was you and your compassion that made a world of difference. Layla was the catalyst of this house. It was her energy that kept us all on our toes.

Even though we never would have thought she was so vital to our happiness (especially to my mother, who was very fond of the same shoes that Layla found appetizing), the moment that she was missing, there was a void in the house that could not have been filled even with gold and jewels.

I am elated to be able to tell you that after three days in intensive care, multiple hand feedings, six hours of surgery, two days of hospital-monitored recuperation, 28 screws, two steel plates, one broken hip, one fractured pelvis, one broken leg, one bruised lung, and a limp later, Layla is back home.

We want to thank you for your honest compassion for all living creatures. If it were not for your appreciation of life, we would all feel a great loss. As for the unknown man with the ability to display such blatant disregard for the life of an innocent puppy, well, I just do not know.

Hopefully, he will realize that good people like you will not always be there, especially when he is the one in need of help.

We would all like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Dennis, Rebecca, Kelly, Michael and Layla Roberts
Los Gatos

Ballot measure would set human rights back in state

Proposition 22 goes before the voters in just a few short weeks.

Everywhere you turn today there are signs which seem to show overwhelming support for the Yes on 22 camp, and I became concerned enough about the lack of support for my personal choice to place a phone call the other day to the "No" campaign. It seems there is simply no funding available to help these people in the battle against a proposition which will nullify years of human-rights activism.

Here, in Los Gatos and Northern California in general, we have an atmosphere of acceptance and the freedom of choice that will be violated by this proposition.

Yet, even the businesses within our towns that are supported by our considerable gay populations do not seem to see the need to support this cause. The No on Proposition 22 campaign cannot even seem to get enough financial help to print lawn signs and bumper stickers. There are few people willing to get involved to help defeat the initiative, and even fewer willing to speak out and take a stance.

Proposition 22, in my opinion, is not about gay rights. It is about the never-ending attempts by government to legislate morality. It is about our untaxed churches using the funds from their nonprofit tax status to influence government.

The Yes on 22 campaign is almost solely funded by religious and intensely conservative organizations. The proposition will nullify years of work that has been accomplished by the voters of this state to make California a place where freedom of choice matters.

If it passes, marriage will be defined in the state as an institution which can only be entered into by a man and a woman. Same-sex marriages are already unrecognized by this state, so ask yourself ... why?

Because ... there have been massive accomplishments made by the voters of this state toward the recognition of same-sex marriage. The fiscal responsibility of the state will increase considerably when these continued future gains in human rights become law. It is much harder to change an existing law than it is to pass legislation giving people increased freedom.

The voters of this state have already voiced their opinions, showing that more freedom of choice is what we all truly want. This legislation is a chess move to guard government from allowing us to make our own personal choices.

Gay couples will no longer be able to get their partners insured as "significant others" on medical insurance; gay couples will no longer be able to adopt; gay couples will be denied family access to hospital visitation. In other words, California will return to the governmental attitudes of 1955.

I strongly oppose Proposition 22, and I pray that the voters of California will do the same. Please take the time to do the research on this important issue and to help California to remain the leader in human rights.

Use your vote to tell big government to stay out of your lives, and to tell Pete Knight and the churches of this state that you support their right to choose their moralities, and expect them to give you that same respect and right.

John Lipka
Los Gatos

Monster home issue is really about taste

As the author of Los Gatos Observed, a book about the history and architecture of Los Gatos, and as an architect acquainted with both the Deckers' home on Glenridge and with the plans for the Omanoff's proposed so-called "monster home," I'd like to voice my opinion that the Decker home is entirely appropriate for its site.

It is correct both in style and scale, an outstanding, dramatic home that seems to me to reflect the character of its owners as well as the history of its corner.

Monster homes are not just about size or floor/area ratios. Some 10,000-square-foot houses are bold statements that challenge convention and enrich their community. What I'm opposed to are the prosaic, conspicuous-consumption McMansions that economic forces seem determined to force on towns like ours.

Everyone needs to decide which is slightly more important: individual property rights, or living in a town that isn't choked with all the bad taste and poor design megamoney can buy.

Alastair Dallas
adallas@infospect.com
http://www.losgatosobserved.com

Money can ruin character of the community

I was disturbed to read in last week's front-page article that a move is afoot, headed by Dennis Omanoff, to discredit Commissioner Sandy Decker in what appears to be a self-serving vendetta.

Los Gatos is a unique and special community; that's why my husband and I chose to move here a mere six months ago. However, that uniqueness can be lost very quickly if individuals are allowed to leverage their money and their agendas to get "theirs" at the expense of the overall character and tenure of the community.

As a former resident of Orange County, I watched this same kind of attitude destroy very special sections of Laguna Beach and its surrounds.

It's easy to want to have "mine" and much harder to make personal decisions that work in the context of the community in which one lives. I hope that the Town Council, the Planning Commission and the residents of Los Gatos will stand firm and do the ever-vigilant work that is necessary to maintain the character and quality of our community.

Otherwise it will be eaten away, bit by bit, by those who are guided only by self-interest. Sandy Decker is only doing what she is supposed to do--making sure that land-use exceptions do not dramatically change the character of this town.

Mary Ellen Kaschub
Los Gatos

Photo: The Great Race

Partying with the nonagenerians

LGUSD administrators respond to parents' concerns about API comparative scores

Obituaries

Picture From the Past

Sports Briefs

LG girls win basketball division championship

Los Gatos, Leigh eliminated in CCS soccer playoffs

Wildcat wrestlers head to CCS finals

Photo: Los Gatos Lock