Speak Out

Positive coverage of firearms is welcome

I enjoyed reading Sarah Gaffney's article in the Sept. 22 Willow Glen Resident, entitled "Arms and the Woman." I enjoyed reading an article that was positive about the responsible use of firearms.

Charles E. Luckhardt
San Jose

Perfect community has turned 'greedy, high and mighty'

Sixteen years ago, my family and I relocated to a small suburb of San Jose. We chose our new home very carefully, searching for a reasonably priced area with good schools, clean, safe streets and friendly neighbors. You know, the perfect place to raise a family.

Through the years I've watched the schools decline. The streets and the sidewalks in town are now cluttered with debris and filth. The once-quaint little businesses have now turned into overpriced junk stores. And much of the community has turned not only unsociable, but demanding, greedy and high and mighty. They complain about many of the activities being held at night, claiming there will be too much noise and/or trouble, such as bars, restaurants and a billiards club, even a harmless football game.

Neighbors now only speak to each other (usually through the police, lawyers, the City Council and even the local paper) to complain about older vehicles parked on the street, a house party, the color or size of a home. They put a few thousand dollars into a house to make it look big and new, and then price it as if it were in Beverly Hills. To top this, our mailman (Tony) has even been assaulted--not by a four-legged animal but a two-legged one, a resident!

If this does not sound familiar, then you had better look around. I'm speaking of Willow Glen.

Nancy Bentley
Delynn Way

Closing of senior health center is tragedy for all

We have just learned--along with over 800 Santa Clara County families--that the Senior Health Clinic in Willow Glen will close at the end of this month. This closure by Columbia Health System is as disappointing as it is potentially tragic for families.

Disappointing, because in 1998, when Alexian Brothers Hospital arranged to exchange properties with Columbia, there was a broad belief throughout the community that the Willow Glen clinic would remain open to serve county seniors. After all, during the six-plus years of the clinic's life, resources have been invested from throughout the community to create this one-of-a kind facility.

Potentially tragic, because at a time when we know cases of Alzheimer's disease and related disorders are rising, local residents will lose a place that exists nowhere else in Santa Clara County. It was to the clinic that residents looked for help, from the first symptoms of serious memory loss and detailed work-ups by trained staff to management of geriatric conditions that can compound confusion and for meticulous management of medications. The clinic has even been an educational resource for patients and families.

We hope Columbia will realize the full dimensions of this closure. Families from Willow Glen and beyond will lose this concentrated resource. In the end, we at the Alzheimer's Association find this a sadly ironic event. At a time when we are working to build partnerships with Bay Area health establishments to develop dementia-capable care, one of the very finest examples of such care is about to go away.

Those facing the already overwhelming journey through Alzheimer's will be left more than ever to navigate the increasingly Byzantine world of managed care.

William H. Fisher
Executive director
Alzheimer's Association of the Greater San Francisco Bay Area
Los Altos

Don't be so fast to spit Pepsi out of our schools

Michael Johnson's response to San Jose Unified School District's contract with Pepsi Cola ["Pepsi in the schools is corporate invasion," Speak Out, Oct. 13] belongs in the "give me a break" category.

In an exercise in reductio ad absurdum, he asserts that in the future school districts might dictate what shoes students wear, or what cars their parents drive. Hold on there! Is he saying that the district frisks kids at the door, confiscating their milk, orange juice and Coca Cola? The last time I looked, kids could bring their own beverages to school.

Kudos to the school board for reaping the full financial benefit from its vending contracts. Past practice at many school districts has been to leave these arrangements to individual school sites. As a result, some schools receive little or no financial reward from these arrangements. The real crime is that school districts are so under-funded that these vending contracts are necessary. Perhaps the half million dollars a year that Mr. Johnson dismisses so easily will provide additional services that will foster a better learning environment for his child. All diatribe aside, I most sincerely hope so.

Rosemarie Pottage
Sunnyvale

Beware of hazards of garage sales

Garage sales are not without hazards. Drivers driving on the wrong side of the street, parking in opposite directions, not looking at the road but looking and casing what is available, causing traffic jams for those just trying to use the road.

Case in point last year: On a street with cement dividers in the road, a car drove up and parked in the driveway of a house that had a garage sale. The driver pulled out without looking and hit our car because his 8-year-old in the back seat said all was clear. The child did not have his seat belt on. The driver was cited by a police officer and the driver challenged the ticket. We had to go to court. The man could not speak English, but had an interpreter speaking for him. He used his son as a witness and the son got up to tell the judge he told his father to go ahead. The judge ruled him guilty.

I now ride my bike, but find the same circumstances exist. Drivers are looking at the garage sales, not the road, parking on the wrong side of the road, and pull out with disregard for a biker. I observe the rules of the road when on a bike. I'm not sure how anything can be enforced with garage sales prevailing. This traffic jam goes on all day Saturday, but some relief is in store Sunday when there is less traffic.

Suzanne Caldwell
Cupertino

Around the Glen

Children may be small, but they aren't dumb

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