The South Bay AYSO VIP Program wants to sincerely thank the Saratoga News for its Oct. 15 article on the VIP kids and families. This wonderful story should help us reach even more families and children who have not had the chance to participate in the safe, fair, fun experience of AYSO soccer.

We also want to thank all the volunteer coaches, referees, buddies, snack shack/BBQ workers, field workers, and other volunteers, most of whom do not even have children playing in this program. Their time, energy, and passion have made this program possible.

A special thanks goes to Bob Hopkins, the director of the South Bay VIP Program, and the executive board for taking an idea and making it real, in a very short time. In addition, the city of Saratoga certainly deserves recognition for partnering with us to make the fields available on Sunday.

Our final thanks go to the two current VIP founding sponsors, Guidant Foundation and Mark Stark/Kathleen King, as well as to the one current VIP program sponsor, Major League Soccer Camps, who have contributed funds and equipment. Since there are no registration fees for the players or their families, sponsorships are needed to fund the program.

—Mark S. Linsky, AYSO Area 2-J Director, AYSO VIP Program


Visitors to Saratoga get warm welcome

We are visitors from London, England, and we are staying with our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter in Saratoga. I must tell you what a great welcome we have received from local residents that we have had the pleasure of meeting. In particular, we were very lucky to meet a group of seniors, who meet regularly at the International Coffee Exchange in Saratoga, and they have been so kind to us. They have allowed us to join in with their group in the mornings, and it has been a great pleasure meeting with them. I would like to say a big public "thank-you" to them all for their friendship and warmth.

—Morris Jones, London, England


Reader disgusted by celebration, photo

I would like to register with you my horror and disgust at the front-page photograph and accompanying sentiments on the Marshall Lane Elementary School's Halloween celebration. How is it that children from the ages of 5 to 11 can have a "spooky good time" when being shown "body parts being ground up" and bloodied, dismembered human limbs being waved around by people (presumably teachers or parents) with evil-looking props and costumes? This is not spooky—this is horror.

Has anyone at this school (or anywhere else enmeshed in this Halloween-crazed culture) stopped to think about what they are really doing here? The models created are of parts of human bodies—that means people—people who once lived, who have died violently and whose dead bodies have been defiled in a most gruesome way. Criminals who do this kind of thing are locked up for life or executed. They are insane, psychopathic, antisocial. Yet our local elementary school thinks its children will have fun if they are shown models of such crimes to the human body. And to make matters worse, our local friendly newspaper sees fit to print, in glorious color on its front page, a picture of this sickening horror, on the premise that this is all good, clean fun.

It is bad enough that our television and movies push out such "entertainment"—but when an elementary school promotes and endorses the theme, they are effectively teaching children to place no value on human life. And then we wonder why violent crime prevails in our society!

—Jennifer Tero, Bellwood Drive


Patriot Act should be rejected

Our president has proposed an expansion of the USA Patriot Act's law-enforcement powers. This expansion of power would significantly undermine the fundamental liberties guaranteed to all citizens by the Constitution. The League of Women Voters calls on Congress to reject the administration's attempt to limit Americans' freedoms.

The local League is very concerned with the administration's plan, which would allow subpoenas to be issued without obtaining approval from judges or grand juries and make it legal to hold suspects without bail. We believe that it is up to Congress to keep close watch over the Patriot Act's implementation and that they must address instances where citizens' freedoms have been abused.

In memory of those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, we must stand together to protect and strengthen the American way of life. We must defend our democratic system of good government that our adversaries would so like to destroy. The administration and Congress must protect our homeland through means that protect our civil liberties, rather than chipping away at the basic values for which America stands.

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