When we receive a call, we always specifically ask where they get our information (usually they do not disclose) and insist that they remove us from their contact list. We now receive less than two calls per week and we hope to be solicitor-free soon.

For junk mail, we called 888.567.8688 to have our name removed from all four lists that are used by marketing groups. It is a relief to receive the mail we want instead of all the garbage!

—Kelly S. Kaase, San Jose


Letter writer missed the point on purchase

I regret that Marcia Fariss has missed the point of those who are criticizing the decision to buy the church on Prospect Road.

According to the Saratoga News, the vice mayor and city council "had no idea how bad (the buildings) were" at the Prospect Road site.

Now, the city has a very large budget and access to all sorts of professional resources. Are they really saying that they didn't send someone to examine the buildings at the site (which would be incompetence)? Or did they know all along that they wanted the building for expanding the space for administrative functions, the whole "senior center" idea being a ruse to mislead the public (which would be skullduggery)? Or did they have their fingers in the till (which would be corruption, as suggested by another writer)? I notice that nobody on the council has sought to pick from these choices in making their explanations.

As for the question of whether the purchase may prove to be a good investment, that is something only time will tell. But I seriously question whether it is the city council's proper role to make speculative investments with tax dollars if there is no purpose for the purchase other than as an investment.

I do not think any of the correspondents critical of the council were criticizing the church; on the contrary, the church's actions seem entirely laudable.

—Peter Knight, Saratoga


Falling back on a 1940s admonition

The pro and con letters to the editor regarding cartoonist DeCinzo's implication that priests, pastors and other church leaders have and are violating the Catholic Church's own instructions implies a refusal to accept reality. I do hold those Sacred Heart parishioners I know in high regard because they have refused to accept homosexuality as a normal lifestyle.

Although I am not associated with any religious belief, I strongly support both the Catholic and the Mormon organizations that attempt to defend Proposition 22, which declared marriage should only be between a man and a woman.

This country has come full face with the indoctrination it underwent in the 1930s, accepting situational ethics as the proper approach to eliminating any absolutes. We were taught that good or evil, right or wrong, could not be defined, since both concepts exist only in the mind of the beholder.

Currently we simplistically define the actions of those CEOs who have absconded with millions or billions of dollars as "greedy" and forget that these same CEOs were raised in a religious and educational system stressing competition and high self-esteem and denying any moral or ethical standards. Polls show that two-thirds of college students admit to lying and cheating on college exams, so why should we be so shocked that some CEOs have carried this practice to a higher level?

I accept the teaching of one book, the original Instruction Book. It is a manual for maintaining a system of justice, equity and personal satisfaction. The acceptance of deviation from the Instruction Book has meant that during the last 50 years, our society—with the concurrence of many of our churches—has participated in the elimination of any negative connotations for behavior contrary to the instructions. Negative connotations were eliminated for divorce in the 1950s, for sex outside of marriage in the 1960s, for abortion in the 1970s, for homosexuality in the 1980s, for child/child sex in the 1990s. The line against adult/child sex is currently being erased. Let me insert here that scientists, including homosexual scientists, have proven that no biological basis for homosexuality or pedophilia exists. Even so, many people still operate on the basis that if they are a "religious people," they have not been indoctrinated into a detrimental lifestyle. Maybe the time has come for us to remind ourselves of the 1940s admonition: "When all else fails, try reading and following the instructions."

—Elaine Hocker, Saratoga