In a letter to the Saratoga News on July 8, Phillip P. Pflager commented on a story about a local kindergarten class discussing the war. He described the concept as pointless because, since children that age should not be needlessly disturbed by war's grim realities, the class could only have been "a geography lesson, some anecdotes and oversimplified misinformation."

But really—what's the difference between that and what the rest of us get?

—William Lorton, Former Foothill Kindergartner, W. Third Street, Los Angeles


Saratoga outscored, but it's no game

West Valley Sanitation 2, Saratoga 0

I wish this was a hockey score or even maybe arm wrestling. But unfortunately it's a Saratoga city pollution score. Just three short years ago, hundreds of innocent citizens were shocked by the order to destroy their perfectly good operating septic systems. Saratoga Creek was measuring "bad" human coliforms. The septic owners were assumed guilty and were properly punished. And before that, there was a justified lawsuit against the city, and I'll give you one guess who ended up paying the bill. But lo and behold, with a lot of persistence the stream of "fecal bad guys" was discovered, and guess where it came from?

OK, so that's West Valley Sanitation 1, Saratoga 0.

Of course, that's all history now, but I remember when following all of that in the newspaper I ran across the mention of studies that brought out something that I kinda knew, but never to this extent. And that was how amazingly quick underground sewage can travel notable distances.

I remember reading in the Saratoga News on July 5, 2000 that the mayor said that sewage can also pollute the creek if water seeps underground through permeable soil directly into the creek. The investigation gives the city an idea how quickly sewer water can flow hundreds of feet underground to the creek. While the soil or gravel may filter out large particles, microorganisms can still pass through. He thinks it is clear that the same kind of thing can happen with water from leaking septic systems.

And also, from the Saratoga News Aug. 16, 2000, the pattern of bacteriological pollution revealed by the test results obtained in the extensive three-year UCAP study made it clear that there are multiple sources along Saratoga Creek, throughout the city. Repeated careful visual examinations of the entire creek throughout the city revealed no aboveground pollution sources; therefore it is virtually certain that the pollution enters the creek principally from underground. It is understandable that few people have reason to think about how water gets into creeks. The principal source is infusion groundwater. Therefore any septic systems and/or leaking sewer lines near creeks should be regarded as possible sources of pollution. The recent investigation that identified the leaking sewer main under Saratoga­Los Gatos Road illuminated a point that is highly relevant to the septic system issue. It showed that water can flow underground, outside of any pipe, downhill over a distance of several hundred feet laterally, in minutes. Under similar subterranean conditions water from any underground source, such as a septic system leach field, can flow in a similar manner and directly infiltrate into a creek.

The sewer people used a southwest piece of the West Valley College campus as a so-called staging site, which is a fancy name for a temporary dump site for the used wet drill mud mixed with the goo that one would expect from an old sewer line. Besides the obvious, there could be a long list of "bad things" and "really real-bad things" that we humans flush away without thought. The whole area, campus and residential, was bone dry since our first seasonal rain had not yet fallen. The crater that was built to stage this stuff is estimated to hold well over 50,000 gallons. It was constantly being added to and never overflowed. Where did all the stuff go? Quickly, downwards until it hit the old creekbed, then went laterally in all directions. And with the speeds mentioned above, one would guess that it must have reached Wildcat Creek and the far borders of the campus in "no time."

Could the area up and down Fruitvale Avenue be affected? I don't know why not. How far out would it spread? The downward force pushing this goo was absolutely tremendous. No leaking septic tank here. And the big question is why isn't someone looking into this besides the sewer people that caused the dumping?

Any way you look at it, it's West Valley Sanitation District 2, Saratoga 0.

Hey, we're running out of creeks.

—Bert Martel, Fruitvale Avenue


Protecting the right to vote should be our focus

The possibility of election fraud resulting from the use of electronic voting machines has been a topic of discussion as part of the implementation of the new Help America Vote Act. In an effort to address these concerns, the League of Women Voters has considered expert opinions from all sides of the debate.

The concerns are worrisome because they unnecessarily scare voters and ignore the larger problem: reforming election systems. Although it is important for voting machines to accommodate an individual audit, election reform is about much more.

According to Kay J. Maxwell, national president of the League of Women Voters, "It's about choosing machines that are accessible to all, providing provisional ballots to voters who need them, developing statewide voter registration databases, establishing procedures that protect against erroneous purges, recruiting and training poll workers, and educating voters."

Let's focus on protecting the right to vote and to have that vote counted.

—Patricia M. Weber, President of Southwest Santa Clara Valley League of Women Voters

CORRECTION

In the July 16 issue of the Saratoga News, incorrect phone numbers were listed for the new Forbes Mills Steakhouse. The correct phone number is 408.395.6434.