Letters

Contract to purchase land was MROSD's only option

Thanks for the good editorial about the fate of the Lexington Basin property in the April 21 issue of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times.

Friends of Bear Creek Redwoods, the local organization supporting an open space preserve, has not engaged in wishful thinking. We approved the contract made between Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District and the property owner because it seemed the only possible chance to save any of this wonderful property from development and logging.

The deal included the possibility, expiring on June 30, of MROSD buying the entire 1,100 acres for $25 million. All along we have viewed this as a formidable challenge. The owner is demanding an extremely high price, disproportionate to what is ordinarily paid even for such beautiful acreage as this.

Its proximity to the dense population and great wealth of Silicon Valley apparently makes the owner feel that he might make this amount of money via development and logging. (The density of development which is threatened is based on the owner's use of 19th century land patents which preempt current zoning.)

Our earnest wish to protect this area is based on the same factors that make the owner think he can make a great profit there. It is big, beautiful, and accessible to the population of the Santa Clara Valley--30 minutes from downtown San Jose). It includes what is considered to be the finest second-growth redwood forest in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

The demand for green sanctuaries will grow with our rapidly expanding population, as the high use of Vasona Park and other local parks demonstrates. Saving this area for all to enjoy would help to correct the increasing disparity in America between the quality of life for the very wealthy and that for ordinary citizens.

Many Los Gatos residents are complaining in your pages about the arrival of chain stores, blocky buildings which hide the hills, and loss of the distinctive charm which has always characterized the town. Saturating the hills in which the town nestles with "statement homes," as you aptly call them, is another step toward depersonalization.

It may or may not be possible to raise $25 million in the next two months. We are still trying. If we fail, the outcome is then largely up to our county government, which we hope will work with both owner and preservationists to achieve some kind of compromise as spelled out in the MROSD-Arlie agreement. Those who support at least some preservation should let our local supervisor, Don Gage, know their opinions.

Mariquita West, M.D.
Secretary, Friends of Bear Creek Redwoods

Town ignored procedures, mayor was flippant

I read with interest a letter in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times from Shirley and Bob Becklund, which decried the treatment of Donna Courtright at the hands of the Los Gatos Town Council and especially, the town's TV celebrity mayor, Jan Hutchins.

I know Donna to be an intelligent, honest, industrious and strong conservative. In the incident which resulted in her being charged more than $1,400 for allegedly placing campaign signs in the wrong locations [in her November bid for a seat in the Assembly], it seems clear that she may have been singled out by a town administration intent on making an example of a woman with an "aberrant" conservative political position.

Otherwise, how can one explain the numerous violations, by the town, of its own guidelines in the prosecution of these types of signage "offenses"? Conspicuously absent from the proceedings were timely notice to the appellant of the violations in question, sufficient time for remediation by appellant, notice of the locations of the offending signs, so that they could have been removed by appellant as the law permitted, and various other steps mandated by procedure, that while perhaps trivial to the town. The town may well have many other things on its agenda; the [procedures] are, nevertheless, quite serious to Mrs. Courtright and remind her that even in America, due process can become a victim of expediency.

To this very day, the town refuses to show that such an exorbitant sign removal fee was ever levied against any other person running for office in Los Gatos. This may be innocent but one can be forgiven for thinking that it looks more like a concerted effort to deny Mrs. Courtright not only her due process, but equal protection under the law, as well.

Finally, it seemed telling that during her hearing with the Town Council, Mayor Hutchins had the bad taste to suggest that because he did not need signs when he ran for mayor, he did not see why she had to resort to them. It is clear that Hizzoner needs to be reminded that we are not all famous and that political candidates like Mrs. Courtright must live in the non-celebrity world where there exist real world concerns, including creating name recognition where previously none existed.

The answer? Signs.

This seemingly offhand remark, by the mayor, hinted at a flippant attitude unworthy of a high public official and possibly revealed a dismissive air in his approach to one constituent's dilemma. A dilemma not simply financial, but one that questions the integrity of our local political institutions, as well.

Sam Montalvo
Cupertino

Student supports Heimbichner, doesn't 'oppose' the principal

Being a student at Los Gatos High School gives me a view of the Craig [potential] demotion that many people (including, apparently, your cartoonist DeCinzo) don't see or understand. I feel that in order for everyone to understand why the 300-plus LGHS students walked out on April 20, they really have to see the situation from our point of view.

It isn't as if the only people experiencing the strain of change are the new administrators at our school. The students have to get used to the new administrators just as much--and, honestly, the administrators have not done the best job of introducing themselves. This is not to say that they aren't nice people or that they are doing a bad job; after all, things like this take time. The students understand this and have given the benefit of the doubt to the new administrators. To the student body's surprise, though, the administrators have obviously not given this same benefit to Mr. Heimbichner.

I realize that there may be any number of reasons to demote Mr. Heimbichner, but none are obvious to the students and it seems like a rather rash decision. Mr. Heimbichner is the only member of the administration who really knows the student body, and in this role, he is the only one who really provides a connection between the students and the administration.

Personally, I also hope Mr. Heimbichner stays on board the administration at LGHS because he is one of my favorite people there and really does add a warmth and familiarity which is lacking elsewhere in the main offices at LGHS. Without him, that connection would be severed and it would make the jobs of the administrators and the students all the more difficult.

The true nature of the LGHS students is not against Principal McCulloch but in favor of keeping Mr. Heimbichner as an administrator. I hope that if he is demoted, the board is convinced that there is a truly an unresolvable problem. If it isn't, the tide of student protest may well turn against our new administrators, something which would be a major disruption to LGHS life.

Michael Clark
Los Gatos High School student

Discussion about private funding should stay private

The Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) was founded in 1977 with a joint grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. With the continued help of the Packard Foundation, POST has protected more than 37,000 acres of open space in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.

You can imagine our distress over the recent political cartoon in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times regarding the Foundation.

Over the years the Packard Foundation has made grants to our open space acquisition work amounting to many millions of dollars and has provided us with millions more in much needed low-interest loans.

The Phleger addition to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the protection of Bair Island, the purchase of many coastal properties, and most recently our acquisition of the Rancho Canada de Oro property in San Jose would never have been possible without their understanding and financial support. The Foundation has a well-defined set of standards and priorities for land acquisition grants.

Having participated in many discussions with the Packard Foundation over the years, including ones taking place regarding Bear Creek, I find reading about this in the press most distressing. These discussions are not a matter for public disclosure; they are private conversations about private, voluntary funds. I cannot think of much that is less appropriate or more detrimental to a continuing positive relationship than to see reports, and inaccurate ones at that, in the public arena.

Since it often falls to POST to secure private funding to supplement those monies available from a public agency, I appreciate what I think the Weekly-Times editorial is trying to do--encourage the citizens of Los Gatos, one of the wealthiest communities in our very wealthy area, to give generously to bring this important property into protective ownership.

However, I don't think a public discussion of what private parties chose to do with their gifts is going to help. A cartoon like that which appeared on the opinion page is an irresponsible and inaccurate representation of the situation.

I wouldn't be surprised if members of the Packard family and Foundation staff, who have done more than any other private group to improve our lives here in Silicon Valley, aren't thinking "No good deed goes unpunished." What a shame.

Audrey C. Rust
President, POST

Reader is weary of attacks on beloved cartoonist

I am frankly getting sick and tired of your paper allowing a "campaign of personal vilification to be carried out in its pages" (to borrow a phrase in the letter by G.T. Lenehan in the April 28 issue of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times) against DeCinzo the cartoonist. These attacks have become far too personal and call into question your reader's motives and agenda. Who are these people? Who pays them to launch these unrelenting attacks against the poor and defenseless DeCinzo, armed only with his pen and providing a sorely needed service to the community?

As a newspaper of "general excellence" it's time you took responsibility for printing these vicious letters and de facto, if not de jure, adopting their policy. Come clean! State your reasons, if not your raisons d'etre, for publishing, without regard to news worthiness, these snooty and humorless caricatures of DeCinzo. I urge you, nay beg you, to cease printing these unwarranted attacks and allowing every nut who comes along the opportunity to smear our dear cartoonist under the guise of constitutional, first amendment rights to free discourse, if not the Declaration of Independence.

S.M. Zientek
Los Gatos

We must take steps to curb the violence in today's society

We are outraged at both the deaths in Littleton, Colorado and the killing of good innocent people such as the three women in Yosemite. We can stop these tragedies. What creates this monstrous behavior by human beings toward other human beings?

To stop a stubborn problem, one must interfere at multiple places along the chain of events which generate this unwanted behavior. We must take multiple steps. A single step will not do the job. Because we have failed to do so we, society, are in part responsible for these outrages.

We must see to it that people who need help get it; we must provide both tender and tough love. We must watch the behavior of others for signs of willingness to be violent, watch for signs of willingness to deliver verbal abuse, and be willing to speak up on little slights as well as big ones.

We must be willing to ourselves counsel both child and parents, and support the hiring of professional counselors. We must minimize the availability of explosives and guns. We must see to it that quality education is provided for all, and that teachers have the time to detect and deal with violence-prone behavior.

We must see to it that our neighbor's family life is healthy, while recognizing that skill is needed to help. We must see to it that the early childhood formative years are trauma-free and affectionate, see to it that nutrition is good in early childhood, and see to it that prenatal care is sound. For crimes of older criminals, we need a truly correctional system which provides fundamental lessons for inmates on civilized ways to live together, and not the death penalty.

Our great religious leaders both urge and demand that the above steps be taken. The steps are in our own best interest.

Society has failed to take these steps, and so monsters grow in our midst. We pay the consequences. Society must accept its portion of the blame, while at the same time recognizing that the miscreant must carry the primary guilt and must be locked up.

These remedial steps are not unduly costly. The process requires our awakening and understanding of the errors we are making even as we sorrow today.

Charles Walton
Los Gatos

Cartoon was unfair depiction of the Packard Foundation

The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District greatly appreciates the public's support for the acquisition of the Arlie Land and Cattle property (former Alma College) near Lexington Reservoir. In addition, the support expressed by the Los Gatos Weekly-Times and the Los Gatos Town Council is gratifying.

I do feel, however, that the tone of April 21 cartoon by Stephen DeCinzo on this subject was uncalled-for, inappropriate, and misleading. In fact, it seemed to disparage the David and Lucile Packard Foundation for its thoughtful and deliberative process for determining where its own private funds will be put to the best use, especially given the competition of the almost limitless environmental needs throughout the state.

The Foundation has long been the leading contributor to land conservation efforts here, and throughout the state. Its good works cannot and should not be trivialized by its depiction in this cartoon.

While we hope for Packard Foundation participation, we are secure in the knowledge that the Foundation's work, on whatever projects it deems to be most appropriate, will enhance the environment, open space, wildlife habitat, and recreational opportunities for everyone in California.

L.C. Britton
General Manager, Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District

LGHS freshman admits bringing gun to school

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