The Sun's March 24 article "School back to normal, following fire plot," quotes the middle school principal as saying: "We didn't want ... them to feel like stars." This is a statement about several innocent children who were recently spirited away and imprisoned in the local prison for children—euphemistically known as the Hall—for a terrifying five nights. They were automatically suspended and threatened with expulsion, all without a hearing.

Stars? These kids need counseling to recover from the trauma of being betrayed by the adults they looked up to and trusted. They did not ask for the attention.

After the arrests, the spokesman for the department of public safety said that in these times we just can't afford liberty. It should be remembered that when freedom is sacrificed for security, neither results.

Lastly, the principal said, "Most of the kids were nonchalant about it." If the adults had reacted with a similar, appropriate response, the enduring damage to the wrongly imprisoned children and the distrust engendered in their parents, friends and neighbors would have been avoided.

The principal hopes that the children have learned from the event; I hope the adults have.

Patricia E. Fox

Sunnyvale

DeCinzo needs a more
balanced point of view

In a few of the recent issues of The Sun, I have seen some cartoons by DeCinzo that have provided a perspective distorted to the point of being bizarre. The cartoons have portrayed some of the new Sunnyvale city council members as ruffians, outlaws or whatever.

On March 10, DeCinzo's cartoon shows council members Chu, Hamilton, and Swegles roping candidate city managers, with the candidates running in terror; the caption reads "You get the feeling these critters have heard of our reputation."

I don't know DeCinzo, but I have to guess that he's the brother-in-law of one of the recently dismissed or connected in some other way. I have no other way to understand why he would distort reality.

What I can tell you is this: I met his victims while they were still on the city planning commission. I have interviewed each of them individually and got to know them. Ultimately, I assisted two of them (and it would have been three, had I had Dean's campaign literature in time), in their election efforts by stumping for them door to door in my neighborhood.

I did this for them because of their character, which I found ethical and upright; and because I believed in what they said they planned to do. And you know, they are keeping their word and making Sunnyvale a better place to live for average residents like me and my family.

With regard to residual sour feelings about those who are no longer on the council, or with the city—from my understanding of their behavior and choices, these people earned their fate.

And I think DeCinzo ought to either get a more balanced point of view, or he or she should pursue another line of work. If I continue to see this sort of baseless smearing in your paper, it gets recycled without a reading.

Paul Brunemeier, Ph.D.

14-year Sunnyvale resident

Anonymous critics not
useful in a democracy

On April 7 I found a notice under our front door headed "You Are Cordially Invited To Testify At The Sunnyvale City Council Meeting at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 6, 2004..." "Let your voice be heard!"

This unsigned invitation went on to criticize council members Julia Miller, Fred Fowler and John Howe for proposing council elections be held in even years and it included other critical accusations and allegations regarding their behavior.

The purpose of my letter is to attempt to notify these anonymous critics that unsigned documents are not useful in a democracy where facts and allegations must have sources to be credible. I could guess who might sink to this level, but to do so would be as unreasonable as creating an anonymous document.

I hope my voice will be heard.

Bruce Carlson

Sunnyvale

Comcast is ripping off
the citizens of Sunnyvale

During the last two years Comcast has been ripping off the citizens of Sunnyvale. I would like to see what allowing Comcast to operate in this city has resulted in. Please note that this is in comparison to the advertisements presented by Comcast on television, radio and in print media.

First of all, they proclaim speeds of 50 times faster than a dial-up modem service; this is a blatant lie, as I have, over the last two years, compiled a list of performance results that clearly prove that Comcast does not provide anything close to what is being advertised.

In fact, most of the time in the evenings the so-called high speed Internet access simply does not work at all due to massive packet loss.

How much longer can the city allow this company to rip off the hard-working residents of Sunnyvale? This is a very unfortunate situation living in what many would consider to be the heart of the Internet.

Charles Holt

Sunnyvale

Local Salvation Army not
helped by Kroc donation

Some people may be thinking that thanks to Joan Kroc of McDonald's fame, the Salvation Army no longer needs donations from the public. The answer is a very strong no. Joan Kroc gave the Salvation Army in the United States $1.6 billion dollars to build and run new facilities and programs.

Each "Kroc Center" will be built in an economically depressed area. The money given—$400 million for the Western United States—will build about five centers in the 13 western states plus provide an endowment to pay about half the operating costs.

The Salvation Army in Sunnyvale will not benefit from this donation.

But the Sunnyvale Salvation Army does benefit from the donations by local residents. We depend on Sunnyvale residents to help feed 230 people in the city.

We need your help so we can help families who were downsized from dot-com megacompanies or who walked into work to find the company they worked for no longer exists. The mortgage is still there, as are the utilities.

The Kroc donation is a wonderful gift but has many strings attached.

Your gift will be used to help those in need in Sunnyvale.

Major Kenneth Hood, Commanding Officer

Salvation Army, Sunnyvale­Mountain View