Saratoga News

Letters

Not all churches are keeping programs

I recently read with great interest your cover story titled "Sunday Best" in your July 29 issue. The article by Sandy Sims detailed the many ways churches in the Silicon Valley are trying to attract new members. One method being used is to provide child care and after-school care "to meet the needs of the community." It should be noted that some churches are actually eliminating these services.

Saratoga Federated Church, mentioned several times in your article, is actually discontinuing a very popular "Mother's Day Out" program at the end of August. This wonderful service has provided care for infants and preschool-age children for several years. It allowed toddlers to learn, play and socialize, while giving moms a few precious hours a week for errands and appointments. Not only was this ministry beneficial to mothers and children, but it provided an introduction to the church itself.

I find it ironic that the Rev. Russ Ikeda was quoted saying, "The church must reach out nowadays." While many churches are indeed trying to do this, Saratoga Federated is shockingly closing a successful and popular outreach to the community.

Donna Thomas
Saratoga

Working moms are missing out on kids

In response to the letter by Joan Adams ("Hats off to all the working mothers!") in the Aug. 5 issue of the Saratoga News: No, I am not insensitive to women. I just believe that it takes a mom and a dad to raise their children. A mother needs to be there to guide and love the children all day through. When the little ones do wrong things, they need to be corrected repeatedly by their mother until it is not worthwhile for them to continue in it. Then you guide the toddler in a positive way.

I was much too jealous to let anyone else teach my little ones proper grammar, behavior and attitudes. Being a Christian, I considered my babies a gift from God. The Bible says, "Lo, children are a heritage from the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is our reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty warrior, so are the children of one's youth."

I believe God meant they would be our comfort and joy as we live out our lives. "Happy (or blessed) is the man who has lots of children!" When we raised our six children, it seems everyone else had nice-sized families. We worked very hard, but we were very fulfilled. There was a real camaraderie among women. That has changed.

Someone has lied to women. You go to work and then you pay more in taxes, clothes, meals out and childcare. What has been lost but your joy in raising your own beautiful babies? You'll never have that chance again.

You can live on your husband's salary. If you need more on which to live--and I mean need--then pray for added income. "I was young and now I am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor their children begging bread." This King David said in Psalm 37:25.

The years in which we raise our children are very short; 20 at the most. You usually have 70 years to live with good medicines. You can stretch your mind and your talents while they are growing, and then soar while they are adults. There is time, my friends.

The little ones cannot articulate their crying need for mom. And, Mother, you need them as much as they need you. And, Dad needs peace when he comes home at the end of the day. I pray I can appeal to young mothers on their behalf to put children first.

Audrey Thompson
Fruitvale Avenue

Road rules apply to bikes and cars

My name is Wilson Wong, and I just graduated from Saratoga High School with the Class of 1998. In defense of bicyclists I must say that many of them do follow the rules of the road. As an avid cyclist, I commute to work and mountain bike regularly. I, too, notice the cyclists who misrepresent us and run lights and stop signs.

Unfortunately, these few cyclists are the ones that come to mind when one thinks of the local cycling situation. It would not be fair to say that these "pusillanimous peddlers" are the only inconsiderate people out on the roads.

Many times, I have been cut off by cars turning into parking lots or have been given a middle finger or have been scared out of my mind when a passing driver "has a little fun" with his horn. These toots may be from considerate drivers who are trying to inform the cyclists of their presence, but many times, it is a "let's mess with the stupid biker" toot.

Or sometimes, worse yet, the driver thinks that the roads were constructed for his personal use and that the cyclist is invading his territory.

Many drivers do not understand that, like them, the cyclists have to get to work or somewhere important. And unlike cars, bicycles are not equipped with headlights. This sometimes leaves a very narrow time frame in which the cyclist can ride home. For the same reasons that drivers cut each other off, speed and tailgate, cyclists run lights and signs.

A bicycle is an alternate form of transportation. As cyclists, we are considered vehicles by the law and must share the road with all other vehicles, including cars. A few of us run lights and/or stop signs (at their own risk, as with driving) and place a stigma upon the rest of us. We shouldn't allow ourselves to judge all cyclists based on one bad experience or occurrence.

Wilson Wong
Allendale Ave.

Opera didn't need Doobie interference

Last Friday Villa Montalvo featured the Merola group, award-winning young performers with the San Francisco Opera Center, in a heart-wrenching production of Verdi's La Traviata. In the last act during the quiet moments, as Violetta was dying of TB, another sound was heard: the Doobie Brothers performing at the Mountain Winery. This entertainment location is also part of Montalvo's summer music program. Members of the opera cast reported they were so surprised and confused by the strong musical intrusion that they momentarily forgot the words to sing. The audience, too, was unhappily distracted. The impact of the drama was suspended and lost.

That Montalvo's management should be so careless as to have one concert interfering with another was shocking, insulting to the musicians and embarrassing to the volunteer staff. If someone had been controlling the rock concert's volume, there might have been less or no interference because the two venues are miles apart.

People living in Saratoga have made complaints about the excessive volume of popular concerts that invade their homes and gardens, but this was an invasion of one of Montalvo's best moments. Is the management at Montalvo so arrogant that it doesn't care about the community but only about the bottom line? Sen. Phelan, who gave his estate for community benefit, must be grumbling in his grave.

Bet Hover
Saratoga

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