Letters

Police district would help pocket problem

The annexation issue is with us again. We are told that the county can no longer afford to serve the "pockets."

Los Gatos can provide better police protection. The sheriff can do little more than investigate after a crime has been committed.

The county does a better job of road maintenance. There is a longstanding pothole in Los Gatos--half of the street adjacent to the Nob Hill parking lot. The pothole is within sight distance of town crews working on landscaping in the Los Gatos Boulevard.

County service districts provide fire protection, sewage, water conservation and other services in both the town and the "pockets."

Los Gatos and Monte Sereno have a joint police plan. Why not form a police district, the "pockets" being willing to serve Los Gatos and adjacent areas?

Planning is such a product of emotion that logic under any government goes with the wind.

E.C. Steffani
Monte Sereno

Third anniversary of Peckler tragedy is a reminder

Three years ago, they were alive. Still trusting in today, believing in tomorrow and their futures bright with hopes and dreams. Jeff, a freshman, hoped to graduate in 2000 and attend Stanford University to become a doctor. Jill was only six months from graduation at UC-Davis with medical school on the horizon. Jim was proudly anticipating walking the first of our three daughters down the aisle. We were not a perfect family, but we were six until dismembered by a repeat-offender drunken driver.

For any parent to survive their child is inhuman. Forever, there will be moments of gasping for a breath; the mental and emotional challenge to just take it five minutes at a time and the raw physical strength to take one step even if it is just in place.

We continue to believe in the goodness of people and in the greater design of our universe. We may be victims of a drunken driver, but we will never allow it to be our excuse for an unproductive irresponsible life.

We are ever grateful for the Peckler Memorial Relay that honors their lives by providing funds for our youth organization--CASA, The Outhouse and Teen Counseling Center. This would be impossible without the support of dedicated volunteers, energetic participants and generous its many generous sponsors. Pam Dunnett and Reiko Iwanga masterfully coordinated this successful event. And, once again, a large contingent of runners participated from UC-Davis.

In an effort to continue forward, I am chairing Grad Nite 2000 for a safe and sober graduation. Few families have experienced devastation of this dimension, and few families have communities that have responded with such compassion.

We know we could not have survived or continue without this strength and support. Often unable to lean on one another, we have leaned on you and however trite it may sound, if our loss saves others, then a blessing was born from this burden.

Judy, Jana and Jennifer Peckler
Los Gatos

Some Monte Sereno residents have grand ideas for Los Gatos

A few weeks ago, the Monte Sereno City Council explored the idea of establishing an open-space district. According to the newspaper report, the meeting drew a full house with the opponents to the "open-space district" a clear majority. The City Council decided, in face of the strong opposition, to take no action on the proposal.

I find this incident ironic. We here in Los Gatos have been invaded by a very vocal group of Monte Sereno residents who have appeared before the Los Gatos Planning Commission and Town Council as advocates of open space, soccer fields and affordable housing in the so-called North Forty. One member of the group even suggested that the people of Los Gatos tax themselves so the town could purchase the properties to achieve their goals. Another member of the group has established a website containing a plan on how to develop the area in question.

I don't know what motivates these people. Could it be they have theirs and now their social conscience bothers them? Interestingly, they feel Los Gatos should carry the burden, while they have neglected to carry the same message to Monte Sereno, their hometown.

I'm not in favor of "zoning for dollars," as we have seen in some communities, but we must face realities. If we are to maintain the services we like and demand, we must balance the desire to live in a town such as Los Gatos with a healthy tax base. Last fiscal year, the property tax was just 21 percent of the revenues collected by the town.

Egon Jensen
Los Gatos

Republicans can choose someone who's not Mayor

I have a suggestion for C.J. Szuklaski of Monte Sereno, who wrote in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times on Jan. 5, complaining about the "power maneuver" in Monte Sereno. It looked like Sue Jackson wanted to have the mayor title, as does Steve Blanton of Los Gatos, so he could not appear to have one up on her.

Well, C.J., while Jackson and Blanton are duking it out over a title, the real Republican candidate, Donna Courtright, should get your consideration before you leave the party after 50 years. Donna is the Republican of choice, if you care about parental rights, excellence in education, property rights and keeping more of your hard-earned money.

I'm glad she is not involved in a squabble of who happens to be or not be mayor at the moment!

M.A. Nelson
Los Gatos

Some compassion would have made a big difference

This evening (Jan. 21) I was following a Jeep Wrangler soft-top on Winchester near Villa Felice in Los Gatos. This vehicle hit a dog, which was thrown across two lanes to the edge of the road. The driver braked, looked and drove off. I pulled over and found the dog still alive and in plain agony, unable to use her hind legs.

I used a scarf to tie her jaws, even though she made no attempt to bite despite her pain, and got her onto the back seat of my van. As I was doing this, a man pulled up and asked if I was OK. I said no, I wasn't, that some idiot had hit this animal and just left her. Turned out this man, Dennis, was the dog's owner, looking for her after she was let out accidentally from his nearby house.

Dennis followed me in his car to the Emergency Animal Clinic on Bascom Avenue. Still shaken, I left the hospital soon after. I don't know what happened to this beautiful, sweet dog; I suspect she didn't make it. But at least she got care and hopefully a quick release from her distress.

Had we not stopped, she would have faced perhaps hours of agony, alone there beside the road.

Some would say that how one treats animals has nothing to do with how one deals with humans, but I pray that the driver who hit this dog is far, far away when a human needs help. I hope he sees this and thinks about his callous response to a fellow being most in need of compassion.

V.R. Jennings
Monte Sereno

Thanks to the people in town who really care

I've had some nice experiences lately in Los Gatos, and I'd like to publicly thank them.

Art, at the post office: Are we lucky, or what? Is this guy not the coolest, nicest and most competent man? I'll bet he could work just about any place he wanted, and there he is being friendly to all of us, even when customers are cranky and the lines are out the door.

Joyce, at the Bank of America on Santa Cruz Avenue, the only person in the whole damned place who, even though I've been going in there two or three times a month for the last 20 years, addresses me by name. Thanks, Joyce.

John, at the 7-Eleven across from the high school. "How's are you?" he asks, and he waits to listen. He's a nice man. He actually remembered that I had picked up soda early in the day and advised my husband not to buy any when he showed up later.

The people who work in the new Sur La Table are always helpful but not predatory.

Bob, the mechanic at the Shell station, is a real gentleman. He doesn't overcharge, he does a good job, and he always asks about my mother's health.

My doctor, Samia Botros, who takes all the time she needs with me and never is in a rush. The people at the Los Gatos Dog and Cat hospital are so wonderful; they know my pets by name, and take care of them with such love and skill.

Thank you all. Thanks very much.

Sharman Bacigalupi
Los Gatos

Correction

The story about furbelows fabrics in the Jan. 19 issue of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times contained an error. The story should have indicated that there is a fee for in-home consultations. The phone number for the business is 408.399.1917.

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