Letters

2000 candidates should debate health care issues

As we enter the fall election season, we must ask the candidates their positions on a variety of health care issues.

Modern medicine truly is a miracle. Unfortunately, our elected officials have not brought Medicare, the primary health care system for Americans over 65, into the modern era. Medicare covers surgery or hospital stays, but prescription drugs are not covered.

While many in Medicare buy some extra coverage to help with prescription costs, some 14 million, or 35 percent of participants, don't. Shouldn't prescription drugs be covered for the nearly 40 million elderly and disabled Americans participating in Medicare?

Another critical issue is health insurance; 44 million Americans do not have any. This represents more than a 30 percent increase in the number of uninsured since 1987.

One fourth of all those without health insurance--11 million--are children.

What does it mean when so many people lack insurance? It means more sickness and higher costs.

Those of us who do have health insurance should be concerned. When an uninsured person receives care but can't pay the medical bill, the costs increase for everyone else. Isn't it time to make sure that all Americans have access to health insurance?

Candidates need to debate these issues. They need to tell us where they stand. And they need to follow through with promises they make in the election season.

If you would like more information on the health care issues that are important in the 2000 elections, contact us at the League of Women Voters of Los Gatos, Saratoga, Monte Sereno at 408.867.VOTE, or at www.lwv-lg-s-ms.org.

Margery M. Bunyard,
President League of Women Voters- Los Gatos, Saratoga, Monte Sereno

Thanks to Villa Montalvo for making July 4 great

The Saratoga Lions Club, on behalf of all of the organizations and participants in the Fourth of July Saratoga Hometown Celebration, would like to thank Villa Montalvo for the use of its grounds for this event.

From a memorable pledge by the Sons of the American Revolution, Taiko Drums, a stirring speech by councilman Evan Baker, patriotic songs by the Saratoga summer school singers, the famous Skillet Family Band and Masonic Sojourners dramatization to wonderful hour of music presented by the 561st Air Force Band and Calif. National Guard.

Special thanks to the city of Saratoga providing security for the event, De Anza Kiwanian Dick Angus for coordinating the food groups, Tat Blesch for coordinating the community organizations and Lion Hugh Hexamer for managing the entertainment. The Saratoga Amateur Radio Association, Saratoga Fire Department and paramedics are especially thanked for their participation and assistance.

Our sponsors deserve a special debt of gratitude, for without them there would be no Hometown Celebration: Green Valley Disposal, the Saratoga News, PG&E, San Jose National Bank, Hammer and Jacobs, the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce and the Saratoga Rotary.

It isn't too early to think about July 4, 2001. Leadership is needed and any interested community organizations are invited to call me at 408.867.1410.

Marlene Duffin
Hometown Celebration Coordinator
Saratoga Lions Club

Septic system belongs back in 19th century

Regarding Tom Moran's letter in the July 5 issue of the Saratoga News, I'm wondering if he has discussed with his wife, ex-city council member Gillian Moran, his opposition to Saratoga's septic-system abatement ordinance.

It's true that the septic system issue was first brought forward in settlement demands by the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. However, even the Moran/Wolfe/Jacobs-controlled city council agreed at one point that it was time to stop this third world, 19th century practice in Saratoga; and they directed the city attorney to begin drafting the ordinance. Other Bay Area cities enacted similar restrictions decades ago.

The city of Saratoga Public Works Department recently completed excellent maps showing the locations of septic systems in Saratoga. Unfortunately, there are so many septic systems in so many areas that you might think it a map of a poor section of Port au Prince rather than of Saratoga.

Effluence from septic systems and leaky sewers contains all sorts of organic and inorganic pollutants, and it eventually winds up in either surface water, such as creeks or the aquifer, from which it may eventually be pumped back into municipal water supply. Is this a good way to dispose of pollutants in a densely populated area?

Don Whetstone
Vickery Avenue

If city loses orchard, it also loses uniqueness

My name is Justin Fisher. I am a 21-year-old Saratoga resident who graduated from Saratoga High School in 1997. I am currently an English major at Utah Valley State College in Orem, Utah. It has been brought to my attention that the city is considering destroying the Heritage Orchard.

Destroying the orchard for any reason would be a terrible transgression. The orchard is not only a place of extreme beauty, but it is one of the only things that attaches Saratoga to its past.

Once upon a time, Saratoga was all orchards. Now there is only one left. If it is destroyed, the city will have virtually given up its uniqueness, becoming just another town in Silicon Valley. I would hate to see that happen.

When I'm home on breaks, I work with my parents, Ken and Marilynn Fisher, at the historical garden in front of the Saratoga Historical Museum. The garden and museum are fine, but what is the point of having them if the orchard is lost? That is our real history, not items in a museum or a pretty garden. I implore the city to cease and desist in this horrid endeavor.

Justin Fisher
Argonaut Drive

---

The city recently conducted an unspecified survey of all residents in an attempt to learn if the community might be amenable to the idea of using a part of the orchard for playing fields.

--Editor

---

Sheriff's Report

Photo: Aegis Gallery features Yobu's 'Moods of Mt. Fuji'

Saratoga Sampler

Sports Briefs

Little League baseball

Baseball camps

Volleyball camps