The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Letters

Vote for Beck

The voters of Santa Clara County will soon have the opportunity to cast their ballot for the position of sheriff; they must vote for the candidate best qualified to fill that position.

The department has a budget exceeding $150,000,000. In addition, the Sheriff's Department has been given the task of administering the Department of Corrections. This may be a much greater task than we can envision due to past politics and the demand by the corrections officers for the right to carry sidearms and eventually receive pay equal to that of sheriff's deputies.

One problem the public may not be aware of is the loss, in the near future, of experienced personnel in the Sheriff's Department due to attrition and retirement. The average age of our deputies is around the mid-40s.

What it all boils down to is the new sheriff will be facing lots of challenges and monstrous administrative problems.

Of all the candidates, we have only one, Capt. Brian Beck, who has had experience working in and being in charge of every major division within the Sheriff's Department. Please take the time to read the candidate's statement in the voter pamphlet, and I feel confident you will join me June 2 and cast your vote for Capt. Brian Beck.

Egon Jenson
Los Gatos

How much has Quackenbush saved taxpayers?

The forthcoming election involves one seat probably more important to our pocketbooks than the governor's chair.

The position involves none other than Cupertino's former Assemblyman Chuck (I've saved you tons of money on auto insurance) Quackenbush.

Quackenbush crows over the cuts in the auto insurance rates but fails to mention the following:

1. Car-accident-related lawsuits filed in superior courts fell from 91,450 in 1988 to 47,800 in 1996--a 46 percent drop.

2. The number of licensed drivers in California rose from 20.3 million in 1988 to 21.4 million in 1995, the most recent available statistic (enormous savings to insurers).

3. California auto insurers reported average 1996 profits of 19.3 percent--nearly 60 percent higher than the national average of 12.1 percent, according to the Kansas City-based National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

4. When criticized for the tons of money insurance companies are making, Quackenbush responds with "insurance is a for-profit business."

And then we have Quackenbush and earthquake insurance, which he doesn't even mention in his statement in the voter information guide.

After the Loma Prieta quake the state created the California Earthquake Authority, which is overseen by Quackenbush.

For those who continued the quake coverage with the CEA, it was instant shock. Our rates soared, and to add insult to injury, the CEA printed a disclaimer with the policy that said, "if we run out of money, you get nothing," and there was a good chance that if a quake did occur, they would run out of money because few people signed on for their policy.

I immediately knew something was wrong when I discovered that our rates in Cupertino were higher than the rates for Northridge.

In February 1988, a regulatory judge for the Department of Insurance in San Francisco agreed with me and said the rates adopted by the state insurance authority were based on outdated and incorrect calculations. (The CEA used only ZIP codes for rate setting.)

Within the past year, earthquake coverage has become available with national, sound companies such as GeoVera and Pacific Select.

As an example, I canceled my CEA policy and with my three-month refund was able to buy an entire year of earthquake coverage with more benefits than offered by the state.

Quackenbush says, "Since 1995, I've aggressively protected consumers."

It ain't true, Chuck. I don't know if you are in the pockets of the insurance companies, but I do know the insurance companies have been in my pockets digging with both hands, and you haven't done anything about it.

W.J. Dunn
Cupertino

Vote for Prop. 227

I studied English, not my mother tongue, at home. In school, like tens of millions of other students, I studied in the English medium. My father encouraged me to study English literature. I received an M.S. at 21 and later on a Ph.D.

I know many students of Indian origin. They study in English and not in their mother tongues and many of them are merit honor students and many received national merit scholarships.

There are many opportunities to learn English. In the public libraries, there are children's books, bilingual audiotapes, videotapes and volunteer teaching of English, and I support all of them.

Bilingual schooling is a big failure. It has not delivered productive citizens. I have no moral and constitutional responsibility to provide for bilingual schooling. Proponents of schooling in Urdu, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Hebrew, Yiddish and 140 other languages should put their money where their mouth is and pay, from their own pockets, for multilingual schooling and not use other people's money. I request tax refunds for all budget surpluses. Vote yes for Prop. 227 and stop this boondoggle and waste of public money.

Satyen Das
Mountain View

Sunnyvale should follow its own rules regarding park

During the past year, there has been a dramatic increase in large-scale private personal and company events at Las Palmas Park. This neighborhood park has a capacity (according to the Parks and Recreation Department) of 190, a single restroom facility and parking lots accommodating 65 cars. However, it is frequently scheduled for celebrations with catering setup, music, tents and many more than 190 participants. The most recent example occurred on May 14, when the city of Sunnyvale decided to hold an employee recognition event at the site. Approximately 800 participants were invited (although not that many attended). The city politely warned neighbors that there might be some disturbance. They even took down the "no parking" signs along an adjacent street to increase parking. These signs went back up for us normal folk the next day at 6:30 a.m.!

My understanding is that Las Palmas is a neighborhood park-- and that Sunnyvale policy is to direct large park events to the Baylands now that Washington Park has been remodeled and most of the picnic facilities removed. In fact, the city employee-recognition event has occurred at the Baylands in recent years, but I was told that it was too far to go and that most people preferred a smaller park. Isn't this the situation for most individuals and companies who want to hold large park functions? I am very disappointed in this egregious disregard of scheduling procedure and the abuse of parking regulations. The city should be a model for how we enjoy our parks, not a special exception to the rules. I encourage the city to uphold the policy of maintaining neighborhood parks and to direct all large, non-public events to sites with appropriate facilities and parking.

Pamela Kittler
Sunnyvale

A poem for politician Riggs

Frank Riggs is running for the Senate. He is the one who made a name for himself by standing before Congress and defending the principle of daubing pepper spray in the eyes of young lady environmentalists who had the audacity or zeal to clutter up Riggs' California office during a sit-in. Riggs called them "wanton criminals." At least they're not official cowards. This is a poem I sent to Mr. Riggs:

Frank the hero of burning eyes
Wins the doubt of man and God,
At zealous girls he vents his wrath
And forfeits thus the voters' nod.

Robert Thoen
Sunnyvale

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