In regard to the issue about Peterson Middle School's extra land, I believe that the school should use it to further its educational purposes. It should not be kept merely as an open park; however, it should not necessarily be sold out to an outside source.

After reading the article about Fairbrae in the Sunnyvale Sun ("Family Value," June 29), I had an idea. If a small pool was built using Peterson's extra space, it could help in many ways.

First, it could be used by the community as a meeting or social place. Families could use it in the summer for barbecues, picnics, or just having fun.

Also, the school could use it to expand its P.E. course. Offering swimming in P.E. could help out the kids a lot.

Also, to help solve the issue of finances, Peterson could rent out the pool to private swim teams, like Sunnyvale Swim Club or De Anza Cupertino Aquatics.

As you can see, building a pool at Peterson Middle School could provide a social area, help out the students, and potentially raise some money for the school's funds.

Kevin Crane, 15

Sunnyvale

City's fourth of July event
fosters hometown feeling

My thanks to the Sunnyvale City Council and city manager's staff for generously sponsoring and smoothly implementing the Fourth of July celebration in Washington Park. It was a great "hometown" event again this year.

The speeches, citizen honors, information displays, music and food brought back memories of "those good old days."

In this era of fluid populations, it seems important to make the newer as well as older city residents feel they are part of a hometown and its many benefits. And fostering a hometown feeling for those new to America and its rich history.

I particularly enjoyed being part of the historical society's information display and having an opportunity to visit with many total strangers, helping them realize Sunnyvale is historically more than a bedroom for the surrounding industries.

Thanks to the city for including and supporting the historical society on this "all-American" day!

J. W. Rowe

Sunnyvale

Fourth of July event
was well organized

My name is Christopher Koelzer, and I am a Boy Scout from Sunnyvale. I would like to address the July 6 Sun article "State of City speech focuses on positive" by Jason Goldman-Hall. I was particularly impressed with Sunnyvale's State of City Annual Address on July 4. I was there with my family because I knew one of the high school students who was awarded the High School Senior of the Year award.

I was also very impressed with the organization of the event. I was just going to come and have some food, but I also got the chance to walk around and look at the many exhibits and presentations. It was a great deal for food--$1 for a full lunch. Wow!

The whole event overall was very clean and organized. I want to thank whoever put this together because they did quite a good job.

Christopher Koelzer

Sunnyvale

Australian man desperate to find distant relatives

I write in desperation from Melbourne, Australia, where our son, Christopher is dying of acute myeloid leukemia. All chemotherapy treatments, autografts and searches on the word-wide registry for a transplant match have failed.

His only hope now is a new technique pioneered out of Perrugia, Italy, that is now becoming part of a formal clinical research program operating out of the Alfred Hospital and Monash University here in Melbourne.

It involves a complex mix of half-match and mismatch which can only be found in relatives of the patient. A worldwide search for relatives is underway in Ireland, Canada, the USA, England and Taiwan.

I am writing to the Sunnyvale Sun because my own mother, Eileen McMillin, had a sister called Harriet or Molly who married a Martin Feehery and whose last place of residence before her death in 1982 was Cupertino, Santa Clara County.

Does anyone there know the whereabouts of her descendants? We need to contact them most urgently.

Information on the procedure being contemplated if we can get the right match is available at www.haplo.org. Any available information should be sent to me at k.carson@dcsi.net.au

Emeritus Professor W.G. (Kit) Carson

PO Box 32 Foster, Vic.
Aus 3960

Ph 61.3.56.821.303

DeCinzo's cartoon is level
of 5th grader's doodling

DeCinzo's cartoon is strongly reminiscent of the doodling of fifth graders--immature, primitive and childish.

Micki Falk

Sunnyvale

Editor's corner: He's back

I returned from vacation last week to find DeCinzo is back; thank goodness.

The three weeks DeCinzo was gone on vacation, I missed his cartoons terribly.

I know. I know. There are those of you out there who downright hate him.

Believe me, I know.

I received one email that said the publisher and I must be deranged to keep printing DeCinzo cartoons. I even got one anonymous email that said, "You're having an affair with DeCinzo, aren't you?"

Sometimes I don't agree with DeCinzo's take on things. So how do I defend him? I can't.

He's irascible, certainly irreverent, funny, brilliant, sometimes mean. But he's the spice, the prod, the gutsy one, who isn't afraid to say it the way he sees it--I repeat, the way he sees it, not me and not the paper.

He makes us question, wonder, laugh, cry, rage, think. That's his job as a political satirist. I don't think anyone who reads his cartoons has a ho-hum reaction.

I have only one fear--that I might one day be the subject of a DeCinzo cartoon. Then I might ... Well, who knows? I don't care. I'm glad he's back.