You tend to think of really bad things happening far away, not to anyone you know and care about. The recent debacle of Karen Lorenz being escorted out the door from the Saratoga Adult Care Center brings it very close to home and to my heart. As the former social worker at the center, I've known Karen for almost 13 years. She was one of the original two employees that were with the program from day one. She nurtured that program, fought for it, served countless spaghetti dinners, baked cakes, was the driving force in every single fundraiser that was ever held for the center. Through two bouts of cancer, there she was, every single day, straight from radiation or chemotherapy. Propping herself up against one thing or another, never once did I hear her complain. At this point, she must be asking herself, "Why?" But knowing her passion and conscientiousness for the program, I know she would never have done one thing differently.

Sue Alvey, the social worker who left in support of Karen, does not have just a "degree in gerontology," but an advanced degree, and even though she was probably way overqualified for the job, it worked well for her as it gave her the flexibility to continue to work and care for a growing family. She felt so strongly the injustice of Karen's treatment that she gave her resignation even though her husband had been recently laid off—that says more for her belief in the program and the treatment of the director than I can ever say.

The third loss to the center has been the demise of the Alzheimer's Association Caregiver's Support Group, which has been up and running for more than 11 years. Caregivers are often highly stressed, overburdened and suffering the loss of their loved ones being the way they used to be, as well as their own lives being totally out of control. I am writing on their behalf, and for them I would like to know the names of the board directors and how each voted on such inhumane treatment as callously tossing out a devoted employee who had given so much of her life to the success of the adult care center. If they would treat a longtime employee in such a way, how would they treat a participant in the program if that person were to start getting cranky, didn't pay their bill, or heaven forbid, became incontinent?

—Louise Anderson, M.A., Former social worker at Saratoga Adult Care Center

P.S. If Karen Lorenz's exit was due to lack of funds, where did the board find the money to recently give the remaining employees a raise? You've got to wonder what's really going on.


Resident remembers services of the past

I read Willys Peck's summary of what used to be in Saratoga, where he said he felt a blacksmith was not needed anymore. How about a good fix-it shop? Garden tools and equipment always need repair. Besides irons, washing machines, radios, clocks and musical instruments, a general all-around repair person with a local facility might be great to have but is probably not allowed by the planners ...

Also another thing that is missing is the Central office. This was at the little building on Big Basin Way that housed the telephone equipment, switchboard and the live operator. This was a real person who was there full time, answered your questions and routed your calls. I remember when one of the operators bought the first new '32 Ford in Saratoga and parked right in front of the Central telephone office and switchboard.

The Saratoga phone company lasted quite a few years before it was taken over by the early Bell people; Los Gatos maintained its own phone company as an independent much longer than Saratoga.

Ralph Husted, who resided on Pierce Road, was one of the early directors, as was Dr. R.L. Hogg. This little company strung lines up Mt. Eden Road, over the ridge over to Stevens Creek and up to Montebello School. I still have one of the insulators that was fastened to those poles with only two wires. There was a "telephone trail" from the north end of our place through and over the brush down to Stevens Creek, across and over the creek, and then up through Picchetti Ranch. This is now all part of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, and we no longer have a "telephone trail." We salvaged much of the wire when the line was finally changed, and I still have one of the redwood poles in one of the ranch fences. They were sawed into 24-foot-long redwood 8x8s.

My family had a telephone as soon as the wire could be strung up here. We answered two rings, 23—W; one ring was for the operator. Now when we answer after one ring, we are lucky if someone is there, but it's never the operator. You used to have to ring for the operator; this meant to physically turn the handle to energize the system and alert the operator.

—Vince S. Garrod, Mt. Eden Road


Reader doesn't agree with Konnyu's letter

A letter in the March 5 Saratoga News from Ernest Konnyu criticizes a Democratic legislator the paper previously discussed on Feb. 19.

Whatever the merits of Mr. Konnyu's political argument, he chose to open his letter with the phrase: "The majority of Saratogans are registered Republicans, so when you overpraise a poisonously partisan Democratic legislator ... you irritate us deeply."

Does Mr. Konnyu believe that a legitimate news source should confine itself to publishing positive articles on politicians affiliated with whatever party a town is "mostly" registered with? Would the Republican readers of the newspaper have been less "irritated" with this article if they were not a majority of the population? Were Republicans the minority of Saratogans, should they be expected to shrug and say "Well, I'm not in the majority in this town, so I'll just have to suffer through these articles on Democrats in silence"? Should they, if not so dominant, never expect to see an article about their viewpoints or public figures until they, one glorious day, were to take back the suburb?

As an individual, Mr. Konnyu is free to suggest the paper conform to his personal ideological viewpoint and free to imply that the paper is jeopardizing its future though the normal exercise of covering relevant news items, but he should keep in mind that those registered with one party are under no obligation to vote for that ticket, especially when their representatives are so indiscreet as to betray a dislike of journalistic freedom in remarks submitted for publication.

—William Lorton, Los Angeles


Community room should be for the community

When the bonds were passed for the expansion of the Saratoga Library, I believe that most of us thought that the Saratoga Library Community Room would continue to be a valuable community resource. I, at least, believed that it would continue to be scheduled for community groups and that fees and management would continue to make it possible for small organizations to use it for meetings. I thought that it would be managed by the library, which has worked well for years.

I am troubled by reports that the Saratoga City Council at the March 5 meeting expressed opinions to the contrary. Except for Councilman Stan Bogosian, our city council seems to think that the city should get involved in the use of this room. It seems that some council members believe that they, not the citizens of this city, should have priority in the use of this room.

This is deeply troubling to me. The city of Saratoga purchased a facility on Prospect Road. However, some council members seem to feel that the city of Saratoga and the city council in particular need to use the community room for their meetings and apparently for commission meetings. Not only that, they reportedly want to have priority in the use of the room and apparently set fees and policies.

This is puzzling. Is the city council admitting that the facility on Prospect Road is not usable? Are they indirectly saying that it was the mistake that some citizens felt at the time? With all that space at their fingertips, why do they need or want to meddle in an arrangement that has worked admirably all these years for the use of the Saratoga Library Community Room?

I hope those who feel as I do will let council members know that if they don't like where they are meeting now then they should meet on Prospect Road and leave our Saratoga Library Community Room alone!

—Ian Webb, Canyon View Drive


Objection to expansion at St. Andrew's School

I strongly object to the proposed expansion of St. Andrew's Church and School.

The city of Saratoga is a residential community and is subject to strict building restrictions, and the community has been restricted in this way for a very long time. The proposal by St. Andrew's is completely unprecedented and unacceptable.

First, expansion of this building is not a priority for the neighborhood or for the city. It is solely a business priority for St. Andrew's. If St. Andrew's desires to expand its business, then it should do so by moving to another site in a more suitable community for the noise and congestion of business.

Second, the neighborhood near the existing church and school is already dangerous and congested from traffic. The area on Breamer Drive alone is in genuine danger of becoming a bypass and will increase congestion between the new, larger library, community offices and the St. Andrew's business establishment. Children at play in the neighborhood are already at risk. Increasing that risk by increasing the number of students who attend St. Andrew's, expanding facilities in a confined space, and increasing other local congestion is irresponsible.

Third, there has already been a large negative environmental effect by the school on the nearby Saratoga Creek area, including the terrible effect of traffic congestion that surrounds the entire community of Saratoga.

Again, I strongly object to the planning commission excluding the general community from a decision that has a significant impact on the entrance to and exit from the community. I also object to the short notice provided to the community regarding this significant issue.

I disapprove of any proposal that will worsen the situation at the intersection of Fruitvale and Saratoga avenues. Congestion, expansion and increased structure height and population should be minimized within the city of Saratoga.

—Diane King, Braemar Drive


Cohn has always been supportive of schools

Assembly member Rebecca Cohn has been very supportive of education and has taken action at the state level to support the children of the Saratoga Union School District. When appealing to the state for an excessive hardship grant for the safety foundation work at Saratoga School, her assistance in getting the letter of concurrence from the Division of the State Architect facilitated the granting of our appeal by the state allocation board. We credit her with resolving the situation and helping the district gain the $1.8 million grant we needed and appreciate her responsiveness to local student issues.

—Mary Gardner, Superintendent Saratoga Union School District


Kaiser supports nursing ratio legislation

I applaud your highlighting the challenges of health care today. I would like to add to one part of her op-ed piece.

In addition to the California Nurses Association, Kaiser Permanente was a strong supporter of the recently passed state of California mandatory nurse staff ratio legislation. In fact, we have committed each of our hospitals and emergency rooms in California to exceeding these mandated levels and as a result have been successful in recruiting more than 2,000 nurses in Northern California since that time.

As a physician and as the leader of The Permanente Medical Group, I understand the vital role that nurses have in providing quality medical care to patients. At present we are constructing a new tertiary care, state-of-the-art hospital in Santa Clara and expanding our Santa Theresa facility. We are also helping to educate and train new nurses as well as other health-care professionals. As such, we are committed to providing outstanding medical care to our patients—not only now but for decades to come.

—Robert Pearl, M.D., Los Gatos