Kudos to Jason Goldman-Hall on his enlightening article in The Sun on May 11 on the health effects of the new chloramine disinfectant in our tap water.

I too fell victim to the chloramine additive.

In mid-March 2004, rashes and large angry welts, some 2 inches wide, appeared on my body, accompanied by itching and a stinging, burning sensation.

I could almost predict where the next welt would pop up. I went to emergency care but the doctors could not identify the cause and ran for their medical books. I was referred to the dermatology department but the calendar was full.

Then I read a letter to the editor in another newspaper from a San Mateo resident who described the same symptoms. She was aware that there was something new in the water and went off tap water and used bottled water instead. Her rashes went away. I found that my condition improved, too, when I used bottled water for bathing and drinking. Prescriptions for two allergy pills and topical treatments helped but not completely.

It was only when I stopped using tap water for cooking also that the symptoms disappeared. Today I am rash free but at the cost of many bottles of water, expensive medication, and physical and emotional stress from the extreme necessity of using bottled water. Is this a way to live? We need better solutions for disinfecting our water!

Lillian Lieberman

Palo Alto

Good Samaritan helps get injured dog out of street

On a Thursday night I was driving on Evelyn Avenue just south of Mary Avenue when I noticed an injured dog in the middle of the street. I stopped my car and, thankfully, the car behind me stopped as well.

I want to thank the Good Samaritan who stayed with me, blocking traffic, until I was able to get the dog in my car and rush him the emergency vet.

Whoever you are, I just wanted to let you know that Snowball's owners were found and when I checked with the vet, he was recovering nicely. Thanks so much for letting me help Snowball safely. I really appreciate your effort.

Elan Winkler

Mountain View

Ten years later, batting
cages finally approved

Congratulations to the hardworking volunteers of Sunnyvale Southern Little League for finally getting approval to build batting cages.

I was involved as a parent, board member and manager in Sunnyvale Southern for 10 years. For as long as I can remember, attempts were made to wade through city bureaucracy to get batting cages for our children. (Most of the leagues in our area have had batting cages for many years.)

Thank you for the city council's favorable 4-3 vote, as opposed to imposing another delay in the process.

Now our city council can work on finding tenants for the mostly empty Mozart office buildings and do something with the downtown debacle. (How about leveling the whole thing and building a beautiful Central Park West?)

Considering it took well over 10 years for the city to approve batting cages, it may be a long, long time before downtown Sunnyvale resembles anything other than a deserted wasteland.

Maybe the city council should ask the dedicated volunteers from Sunnyvale Southern to tackle the problem.

David Del Vecchio

Sunnyvale

Corrections

The May 18 article, "Ballot measure OK needed in mosquito fight," should have read: Residents must return their ballots by June 21 to C.G. Uhlenberg, Santa Clara County Vector Control District, 333 Twin Dolphin Drive, Ste. 230, Redwood City 94065. Residents can also walk the ballots into Santa Clara County Vector Control, 976 Lenzen Ave., San Jose.

In the May 18 story "Guards' practice helps student problems fade," Robert Imada's email address should've been Robertimada@aol.com.