The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Letters

Story captured passion of volunteer program

The Environmental Volunteers are excited and proud of their relationship with Homestead High School ("Nature Walk," May 21) and the 17 students who this year trained to become EVs and joined 150 other volunteers in classrooms and on field trips to teach kindergarten through eighth-graders. Your cover story captured the passion of our volunteers and the excitement of the students we reach.

Every day of the school year, Environmental Volunteers are teaching in Santa Clara County classes, yet there are many many classes on our waiting list.

To meet the growing demand for hands-on environmental education, we need more volunteers. We provide all the training and materials . For information on volunteering, contact us at 415/961-0545.

Susanne Mulcahy
EV executive director,

Slip-and-sue attitude reaches into schools

The May 14 article by Katherine Petersen ("Liability, safety collide in bus issue") illustrates very clearly the impact of our litigious society. We all pay and we all lose.

She gives an example of how some fine Fremont High School student athletes may have to forgo travel to other schools for competitive sports events due to an $80 bus fee. I suspect a large part of that cost is for liability coverage. Proper safety is a must, of course, but has our slip-and-sue mentality come to the point where it even threatens normal school activities?

As a city councilmember in Saratoga and a board member of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, I observe all too often how services have to be limited because funds must be diverted to cover the high cost of protection against lawsuits.

If we adults can take greater steps to curb frivolous lawsuits, it would be a significant civics lesson for our youngsters, as well as a powerful tool to free up much-needed educational funds for them.

Donald Wolfe
Silicon Valley Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse

[ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ]

This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, June 4, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.