Math competitors can count middle school in
From my letter published in The Sun on Jan. 24, notice has been given me that I made two errors of fact.
First, one of the Sunnyvale schools has now entered the Santa Clara County "Mathcounts 1996" contest at San Jose State University on Feb. 24. Thanks to efforts of Randy Robinson, program consultant to the Sunnyvale Elementary School District, supported by this director of the California Society of Professional Engineers (CSPE) Education Foundation, a berth was secured for Sunnyvale Middle School's team of four Mathletes in that competition.
A call from Mathcounts coordinator Scott Vorhees in the CSPE Sacramento office informs me that the northern half of the state Mathcounts 1996 competition will be held in March at UC-Davis, not at CSU Sacramento.
Please furnish this information to readers in timely fashion, with my apology for the unintended misinformation.
Robert Goslow, P.E.
CSPE Education Foundation
Residents who oppose þights at Moffett Field must speak up
This is in response to a letter to the editor from J. Creighton Bricker (The Sun, Feb. 7): Are you crazy?
Listen to what you are proposing. You write that, by making Moffett an international terminal for commercial and federal government aircraft, "we would also see some substantial revenue for the city of Sunnyvale that could allow for the sound-proofing of homes in the flight path."
Don't you ever go outside your home to enjoy your back yard? To work in your garden? To have a barbecue? To just enjoy the outdoors? What good would sound-proofing your home do if you were trying to enjoy the relative quiet of sitting on your outdoor patio and reading while airplanes fly over your home? Sound-proofing doesn't help when you open your doors and windows to let some of the nice weather into your house.
Noise pollution is as serious as water and air pollution. We should be seeking ways to rid the area of noise, not suggesting "acceptable options" (your words, not mine) that will increase this pollution.
I moved to Sunnyvale 22 years ago.
Soon after I moved in, I realized that planes were going over my house constantly, day and night. After months of this, I phoned Moffett Field, was connected to a community affairs officer and was told the planes were being piloted by those in training. They were using the runways at Moffett to learn how to take off and land. Let me tell you how pleased I was to find that the planes circling my house were being piloted by flyboy wannabes. The Moffett Field community affairs officer politely told me, "Lady, we've been here a lot longer than you. There is nothing you can do about it."
Economically unable to move out of the Moffett Field flight paths (and believe me, over the years I went house hunting quite frequently), I learned to live with the noise. I learned that on Tuesdays and Thursdays I would have to listen day and night to planes that seemed to be no more than a foot from the roof of my house. I learned that on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays the flight were less frequent and, therefore, would afford me some relief from the noise.
I learned that air traffic noise tends to interrupt conversations. Therefore, if I wanted to entertain friends in my house, I would have to issue invitations on the days that the air traffic was not heavy. I learned that remote control was a necessity to be able to raise and lower the volume of the television set to coincide with the flights over my house. I learned that, although the vibrations from the planes would shake house windows and rattle pictures on the walls, they would never seriously damage them.
Never, however, did I learn to accept this noise pollution and not a day went by that I didn't wish I had the money to move out of Sunnyvale. To say that I was ecstatic when Moffett Field closed would be a gross understatement. The quality of my life increased a thousandfold.
Why should the citizens of Mountain View and Sunnyvale have to pay for the incompetence and lack of vision of San Jose city planners?
And leaving the decision of the proper use of Moffett Field in the hands of elected Sunnyvale officials is unsettling. After all, this is a city government that tore down a complete city (thus eradicating any sense of community) to build a shopping mall and then, in a move that can only be described as sick humor, named the area "Sunnyvale Town Center." To me, it will always be "Sunnyvale Townless Center." This is a city government that approves of high-density housing--which means cramming five houses in an area more suitable for one.
I don't have money, nor do my neighbors, to offer the cities of Sunnyvale and San Jose to keep airplane noise pollution out of the community. All we have is our voices. We must continue to speak out against the use of Moffett Field as a viable solution to air traffic problems, be they the city of San Jose or the federal government.
So, Mr. Bricker, when you propose that Moffett be an international terminal for commercial aircraft and federal government aircraft, I have to wonder if you are hearing impaired, working for the city of San Jose or smoking something funny.
Lois Long
Peach Avenue
Couple says an 'angel' came to their rescue
On a Friday morning in January, my husband took off for his morning walk. He usually goes about three miles, but on this day he got about two blocks and didn't feel well. He turned around and started coming home, but he got about 30 steps from Bernardo and Remington and could go no further. He couldn't get his breath, felt weight on his chest and was about to go down. He held onto a tree so he wouldn't fall.
Many cars went by him and didn't even take a look because, in this day and age, who knows who's walking around on the streets. But thankfully, a woman driver stopped and asked where he lived. He told her a little ways away. So she picked him up and brought him home.
After they arrived, I called 911. Sunnyvale Public Safety and an ambulance responded within three to four minutes. They took him to El Camino Hospital, where he was diagnosed with massive pulmonary embolism (blood clots in the lungs). It could have caused stroke or heart attack. We could have lost him in no time.
Afterward, I called Linda Dahlberg, the woman who rescued him. I said, "I hope you don't mind me asking, but what were you doing at the corner of Remington and Bernardo at 9:30 in the morning?" She said she usually goes a different way, but something possessed her to go this way this time.
If it wasn't for her, we probably wouldn't have him. To me, it's a heartwarming story that someone would put forth this kind of effort. Thank you for giving something of yourself to help us. I now feel we have an angel watching over us.
Syd Myers
Robin Way
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, February 14, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.