Saratoga News

Letters

Operations at Moffett don't need to be noisy

In response to the Aug. 13 letter in the Saratoga News, "Cities should voice their opinions on the future of Moffett Field," Carl and Myra Orta are totally off base. They state the "engineers and pilots" they consulted assure them that landings and takeoffs into the wind would require approaches from the south, with downward descent and approach over Mountain View, Cupertino and Sunnyvale.

I am a retired airline captain. I invite these "engineers and pilots" to contact me, and I can share with them my more than 30 years' experience flying quietly into the world's airports. I have flown hundreds of approaches in to the wind on runways 13L and R and not flown over any populated areas. This is commonly called the Canarsie approach, and if applied to Moffett, no aircraft need fly south or west of highways 237 or 101.

To make the assumption that Moffett has to be noisy is a head-in-the-sand, the-sky-is-falling, not-in-my-backyard scenario. It is based on fiction, not fact. All one has to do is look at other airports that are operated quietly and apply these practices to Moffett.

The above would require a lengthened runway at Moffett and assumes no commercial jet traffic at San Jose International Airport. Historically, Moffett traffic has been flown west and south of the Moffett runways only because of conflicts with SJC traffic. With SJC operations limited to business aircraft, and Moffett built out as a new regional airport, Moffett would be quiet--with no flights over Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Cupertino or Los Altos. Late night curfew flights could operate over the bay, as LAX operates over the ocean at night. Strong southern winds would require southern departures; however, an immediate left turn (as in the case of SFO runway 19 departures) would negate the need for aircraft to fly south or west of Highway 237. I have the weather data for the last 40 years at Moffett, and this data proves that quiet operations are feasible at Moffett--and are a practical, safe and quiet answer to this valley's airport needs.

Ernest Barter
Fernbrook Court

Animal shelter needs help all year round

A letter that ran last spring in the Saratoga News from the Pet Network Animal Rescue asking residents for financial support to continue our efforts to save sick and homeless animals did definitely help to get our heads above water. Pet Network is a nonprofit "no-kill" rescue organization dedicated to saving the lives of sick, mistreated and abandoned animals.

The donations paid some pressing bills and bought needed medications and supplies, but to stay solvent, donations need to come in on a regular basis.

If lots of people could contribute a little three or four times a year, we would be able to financially continue. So if you donated recently, we are most appreciative and ask that you'll continue to support the animals.

If you haven't donated, it's never too late to help. If you can't help financially, we are in dire need of temporary foster homes for both dogs and cats, help in transporting animals to pet fairs on Saturdays and more volunteers to become part of the Pet Network. We are also looking for a dedicated local facility/building to have pet fairs.

Send donations to Pet Network, P.O. Box 3253, Saratoga, 95070. You can phone us at 450-2452 or visit us at www.petnetwk.org or petres4301@aol.com.

Roxanne Hetzel

Pet Network Secretary/Treasurer

Well? So then what happened, Carl?

C'mon, Carl Heintze, you left us with a cliffhanger. What happened to Miss Nostalgia? You exchanged kisses. Why not phone numbers?

Ardis Taylor Wolfe
Russell Lane

Saratoga Creek not as good as it looks

Over a 12-hour span on May 19, 1997, the Santa Clara Valley Water District, as part of the UCAP project, collected samples of Saratoga Creek water at 12 different times at a location near Crestbrook Drive, close to St. Andrew's School. The fecal coliform concentration in every one of those samples failed to meet the EPA water contact recreation criterion of 200 (in units of MPN/100mL). At 4 p.m. the fecal coliform concentration was 160,000, 800 times the EPA criterion, the highest level ever measured in Saratoga Creek. Tests of samples collected upstream that day exhibited the usual pattern: very clean upstream from Saratoga Springs, with substantial pollution beginning in the Village area and continuing downstream. Storm water runoff obviously was not involved in the May 19 tests or the preceding dry-season tests on Aug. 19, 1996, in which 11 of 12 samples collected at Crestbrook Drive failed to meet the EPA criterion. For perspective, consider this: of all 20 samples that were collected a short distance upstream from Saratoga Springs in both dry season and wet, in all tests since UCAP began in 1995, none failed to meet the EPA fecal coliform criterion, and the median value was only 30.

The front page of the Aug. 27 Saratoga News proclaimed "EPA approves of Saratoga Creek." The EPA spokesman quoted in the story should have been given the UCAP results and asked whether or not it is EPA's official view that a creek that in the summer months consistently exceeds EPA's bacteriological pollution criterion to the extent that Saratoga Creek does is in "good shape."

Don Whetstone
Saratoga

Save us from more 'improvements'!

I guess the warning to be careful when somebody says they are going to "improve service" applies in the case of our post office.

Monday morning, just after 9 a.m., when I put envelopes in the box in front of the main Saratoga post office, both boxes were overflowing. There was supposed to have been a pickup at 5 am.

I went into the post office and found a crowd waiting for one clerk. No problem; I'll telephone them. Ha!

I called their local phone number. I got a centralized phone-processing center which said to press a key to talk with somebody at the local post office, and guess what? The number I was connected to had been changed. I called the new 800 number and was put into a queue to wait. The apology message blamed the long delay on the UPS strike that had ended a week earlier! After more than 15 minutes on hold, I got a live person. She said she called the local post office and told them about the problem.

Wow, if this is a service "improvement," I hate to think what the next improvement will bring!

Ian Webb
Saratoga

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