Kevin Moran Park is already shared with soccer. Ms. Brenda Hammond should become more informed before she writes letters about sharing Kevin Moran Park ("Kids would be blessed with a flat-grass field," Nov. 9).

Kevin Moran Park is already shared with soccer. There are five days of practice there a week. Leave the rest for the neighbors and those who drive in to enjoy the quiet serenity of this park. Leave it for the children who don't play soccer but need a place to play. Just because they are not an organized group, like soccer, they should not be ignored. They need a place to play their games, ride their bikes and throw their balls. Leave it for the walkers, the runners, those doing tai chi, those playing badminton, those walking their dogs, the children on the playground, the people who spread blankets and read beneath the beautiful coastal redwoods, sycamores, oaks and beside the tiny apricot orchard.

It, too, will disappear like other parks of its kind if the proposed parking lots and bathrooms are put in and removal of virtually all the trees goes forward to accommodate yet more soccer fields.

Nancy Weller

Scully Avenue

Save Moran Park for
those who live here

I am a retired electronics engineer. I moved from Chicago with my wife and four young children to Saratoga in 1966 in order to work and raise our children in this beautiful area of California. We have been bringing our children and, later, our grandchildren to the lovely Kevin Moran Park for them to play on the swings and slides, to ride their bikes around the circle, to fly their kites and to simply romp on the grass ever since.

This is a small neighborhood park for all of Saratoga to enjoy. There are other places in the area for organized soccer matches in and around Saratoga; we pay our Santa Clara County taxes twice a year for the use of soccer fields that are available in the surrounding area. We don't need our small park destroyed with bleachers, bathhouses, parking congestion, noise, refreshment sales and beer drinking. Children walk through this park on their way to and from Blue Hills School every school day; we don't need bathrooms there where sexual predators can hang around and hang inside to possibly harm our children. And as for soccer practice, there seems to be enough flat grass there for our young people to practice their soccer as I see them doing quite often in the park.

There are other simpler and less expensive worthwhile additions that can be made to our park such as tennis courts, volleyball courts and contemplation gardens. And as for our small heritage orchard, instead of the expense of de-fruit spraying, couldn't we add a little irrigation and occasional pruning to preserve this orchard that we inherited instead of letting it decay?

Saratoga City Council members, if you care at all for the people who live here, you will vote to improve but keep our small neighborhood park in its present form.

Ernest Gordon

Terrence Avenue

Some positive events
occurring in Saratoga

A resident I highly respect suggested I write a letter to you about some very positive activities occurring in Saratoga. She felt that the focus of the council (or on the council) has been negative lately.

I attended a wonderful event, the Holiday Fashion Show organized and put on by Saratoga residents and Saratoga business owners working together to bring a great fundraiser to the Foothill Club in order to raise money to beautify the Village. The event was organized by Jill Hunter and Flora of Flobell's, our local Village Dress Shop. It was a flawless effort attended by over 160 people: clothes by Flobell, food by local restaurants and all the models were local celebrities: Chris Van Hoy from Curves; Kathy Phelan, the executive director of the Chamber; our city clerk, Cathleen Boyer; Susan Zabcar, a local resident; Cynthia Chang from the Los Gatos-Saratoga high school board; Leah (Debra) Cunningham, a local actress; and Rena, Flora's daughter from Flobell.

Cooper Garrod supplied the wine and the following merchants helped out: Bella Saratoga, la Mere Michele, The Basin, Hong's Gourmet, Lupretta's Deli, Tapioca Express, Viaggio's, International Coffee Exchange, Blue Rock Shoot Cafe, Skin Prophecy Boutique, Deja & Co., Butter Paddle, Saratoga Chocolates, Benson Antiques, Echo Shop, Larissa Louise Design, Fat Robin, the Historical Museum, Shoetopia and Preston Wynne Spa.

I am looking forward to the next event we will have in our city, the Saratoga Tree Lighting Ceremony in Blaney Plaza and the Village open house, both the day after Thanksgiving, Nov. 25, starting at 5:30 p.m. The opening of the McAfee Performing Arts and Lecture Center will occur at 4 p.m., just before the event downtown.

Let's all join together for the tree lighting and Village open house.

Kathleen King

Saratoga Mayor

'Repugnant' event takes
place at Kevin Moran

I am writing to describe an incident that took place at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 13, at Kevin Moran Park. It is one of the most unsettling and most repugnant events I have experienced as a parent and 13-year resident of Saratoga.

After finishing an excellent soccer season with AYSO, my son's team of 12 9-year-olds boys and their parents (all residents of Saratoga) were celebrating by having pizza and soda at Kevin Moran Park. Due to the fact that we were going to return to Congress Springs for a "sportsmanship event," the boys were in their uniforms. As we sat enjoying the picnic we were approached by three policemen (a fourth came later) because a "neighbor" had called 911 repeatedly to report that "sports" were taking place in the park and needed to be stopped immediately.

The police inquired about what we were doing in the park and whether or not we were playing "organized soccer." (Apparently the caller failed to notice that the "menacing players" were in the same color uniforms and that there were no cones or nets in sight.) The police were sorry to bother us, but said that they needed to respond to the multiple calls to 911. It was truly disheartening to observe the young boys who had just been coached on good sportsmanship and teamwork with others, watch an adult act out in this hateful, wasteful and divisive fashion.

It is shameful that in this city a small but aggressive group of residents work tirelessly to block healthy, child-friendly activities (this is not the first park where the same group has effectively limited access for play). It is outrageous that the latest tactic of this group is to call the 911 on children playing out of doors!

The police are a valuable resource and money and time were wasted because of this mean-spirited "neighbor." (Perhaps a fine should be levied for the misuse of city resources?) Our parks are a valuable resource and should be available to our children.

Rebecca Owens

Knollwood Drive

Why did AYSO group
choose Kevin Moran?

I am writing regarding the incident at Kevin Moran Park, in which neighbors observed what looked very much like a Sunday soccer game.

At Kevin Moran Park we currently have practice five days a week, two seasons a year, and a very hot controversy between special interest groups' need for regulation-size fields and the neighbors' continuing efforts to maintain a Saratoga beauty.

So, if the AYSO has what seems to be a game on the weekend, and the neighbors say nothing, then AYSO will claim that it happens and no one complains. If we complain that there is a game on a Sunday, to log the incident, we are selfish, sick people.

All Saratogans enjoy this park. The neighbors wish to keep this area beautiful, with all of its trees and serenity. All Saratogans are free to enjoy and visit, picnic, play, relax, unwind, walk, bike, visit with friends, etc.

The real question is, why did the sheriff's office send three cars to question permit use? Why did the sheriff's office ignore calls from El Quito neighbors when they called regarding a beer keg party at that park?

There is so much tension regarding the use and development of this park, why did the AYSO group, having a party and playing soccer in uniforms, choose Kevin Moran Park and not notify the city?

So, for all Saratogans, we are not selfish, nor are we sick. We fight for preservation like the Heritage Orchard passion, like the downtown beautification passion, and like the seniors who fight for North Campus.

Do not be misled. We are not anti-soccer, nor anti-children. We are just people, trying passionately to preserve the park.

Sandy Cross

Scully Avenue

New monthly column takes
a closer look at education

Longtime educator Joe Di Salvo shares his insights about schools, teachers, students, parents and the "system" in his monthly column Di Salvo on Education beginning this week in our education section.

Di Salvo began his educational career as a teacher in the Santa Clara County Juvenile Court school program. On his way to becoming a middle school administrator, he held several positions--including one in which he managed Special Issues, Youth at Risk--at the Santa Clara County Office of Education.

He has served as a middle school principal in Milpitas and Moreland School districts and currently is principal at Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School in Palo Alto. He was named Administrator of the Year for Region 8 in 2001 by the Association of California School Administrators.

Di Salvo is active in a variety of professional and community organizations, including San Jose Community Leadership Council, San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce education committee and the California League of Middle Schools.

Over the years, Di Salvo has learned what works and what doesn't when it comes to educating children. He'll share his insights, with a special emphasis on how parents can help their children get the most from their educational experience.

He begins today with some thoughts about report cards: Do they really measure how much students are learning?
--Dale Bryant