My, how time flies—especially when you only have three minutes to try and inform your city council about something that interests you concerning your city, your neighbors and your "not so long ago" students.

This, of course, is the never-ending concern about the material dumped next to my and my neighbors' Saratoga residences by the sewer people working on the Allendale sewer replacement.

This seems to get worse every time you look at it. You keep trying to say that this is Bert's problem or Mr. Martel's problem. No, this is Saratoga's problem, this is your problem.

Concerning the tests of the original dumping, I remember the mayor requesting the then Saratoga sanitation director to see why the tests from Sequoia Labs were so different from the sanitation district's values. I feel that since one of the analyses was from Sequoia, that I paid for, I would appreciate a copy of that "report to the mayor" as to why the values were so different.

You asked me to point out what areas of this mess should be tested, which was a no-brainer since there were only two obvious materials—i.e. the liquid in the middle (used drill mud) and the crater wall.

I'm out spending more of my retirement money to get another test—this time in the "heavy metals" field. This isn't fair. I've made 13 tests of this dumped mess and you haven't made any even though I have requested many.

As a citizen of Saratoga I would like to request "heavy metal" tests of this dump for zinc, copper, mercury, lead, nickel, silicon, selenium, manganese and any other metal that you can think of that would have been lodged for years in an ancient sewer line. I make this request for my family and in the interest of my Saratoga neighbors and West Valley College students.

Bert Martel

Fruitvale Avenue

It's cats, not coyotes, that kill native birds

In a recent letter to the Saratoga News, a resident complained about coyotes possibly being responsible for a decline in his neighborhood quail population, and also expressed alarm at the risk coyotes pose to roaming cats in his neighborhood.

There is great irony in these concerns. Domestic cats, which are allowed to roam free, have decimated native bird populations—this is a nationwide problem. Wild birds killed by domestic cats number in the millions, and some whole songbird species are now endangered as a result.

Neighborhood cats killed both parents and 10 of the 12 offspring in a quail family that had taken up residence in my parents' Saratoga backyard. I have personally attempted to rescue a number of birds that fell victim to roaming cats. Unfortunately, birds that have been attacked by cats seldom survive—even if they are not mortally wounded initially, a superficial cat scratch introduces bacteria that usually kills a bird within 24 hours.

I have always had pets, and understand the heartbreak that is experienced when a pet dies. Coyotes do present a real risk to cats, though a free-roaming cat is far more likely to meet a sad end as road kill than as a coyote meal.

The Humane Society of the United States, the American Humane Association, and the Audubon Society are just a few of the many environmental and animal welfare organizations which are asking people to keep their cats indoors, for the safety of the cats, as well as that of birds and other small wild animals.

One last irony to address: coyotes have a varied diet, but prey most heavily on rats and mice, and are not a significant threat to quail.

Jocelyn Kahn

Ravenwood Drive

Join community college students in Sacramento

In 1960, the California Master Plan for Higher Education promised equal access to "all who may benefit" from higher education. That promise was kept until the current state budget crisis.

Community colleges have lost approximately $330 million out of a total budget of $5 billion in the last 18 months. When deep budget cuts were proposed early in 2003, students rallied to save their educational opportunities. They organized a march on Sacramento that brought more than 10,000 students to protest on the Capitol lawn.

Although their efforts reduced the extent of the loss, the California Post-Secondary Education Commission estimates that some 175,000 students are being turned away during 2003­04 because the classes they need are not available.

On March 15 students will march again. Governor Schwarzenegger's budget does not cut the community colleges' allocations but it redirects substantial numbers of students from the California State Universities and University of California to the community colleges who are already turning students away.

Traditional entry-level community college students, many of them the first in their families to aspire to college, must compete with university-eligible students for the limited spaces available.

The League of Women Voters of Southwest Santa Clara Valley supports full access to higher education. We encourage the community to support our students either by joining in the march or by letting their representatives in Sacramento know that they support access to community colleges for all.

Patty Weber, president

LWV of Southwest Santa Clara Valley

Heinrich Fan Club wants more TV time for Tim

My name is Tory Mitchell and I'm the president of the Timothy Heinrich Official Fan Club.

I'm also a huge All My Children fan as I have watched it since it aired. We, the fans of Timothy Heinrich [of Saratoga], followed the [Sexiest Man In America] contest on ABC from beginning to end and we feel very cheated! They involved us on and off the show and we actually selected the winner via email and text messages to ABC. Tim took the title by a landslide! As part of his prize he was promised sporadic appearances on the show. Although he is on reoccurring status, he has appeared on the show twice.

We have an ongoing petition to get him more air time: http://www.petitiononline.com/amc4th/petition.html. He also has his own official fan club: http://timothyheinrichofficialf.homestead.com/. We are emailing and snail mailing ABC daily, promoting Tim. We feel as if the contest was done in vain and we do not appreciate being ignored!

Tory Mitchell, Fan Club President

Academy Drive, Metairie, La.