I will keep up my mantra until either the Los Gatos Town Council or the Monte Sereno City Council takes action to stop the activation of the new traffic signal at the Winchester/Daves intersection.

Those of us who live on Vineland, west of Winchester, now experience a noticeable increase in traffic—and it is going faster. Why do we have to put up with this? Travelers don't want to fight the new controls at the Winchester/Daves junction. Drivers now leave Daves and cut across to Vineland to avoid the backup at the intersection that has gone beyond Daves Avenue School and up to Kavin. Drivers heading south on Winchester avoid the intersection by taking Vineland as a cutover
to Daves.

Why does our neighborhood have to suffer just because the local elected officials didn't do a thorough study of the area before they bowed to a squeaky, uninformed minority?

We will fight activating the light, and we hope the concrete gets ripped up and deposited on a council member's front yard!

—Bill Ferguson, Monte Sereno


Aunt Ginny's grateful, Longs comes through

I don't know how to thank the mailing service employees at Longs in Saratoga.

Two days ago, I was at Longs, juggling presents, trying to buy boxes and develop Christmas photos. Once at the mailing counter, I realized I could not find the Christmas gift to my Aunt Ginny, who is in a nursing home in Vermont. I went back to the car, then home, turned my house and car (would you believe, even the garbage) upside-down looking for it and felt really sad about having lost her precious package.

Yesterday, when my husband stopped to pick up the photos, he asked the department if by chance they had seen a small package addressed to Vermont with no return address.

It turns out, they had found it, realized it needed to go to someone at Christmas, and they mailed it. I was stunned. Longs. The place to mail things. (Did you know at the bottom of their receipt, it says "Live healthy. Live happy. Love Longs"?) I'm a new fan.

This never would have happened with the U.S. Postal Service. They probably would have put it in quarantine or blown up the package, perfume and soaps scattering everywhere. Aunt Ginny will be happy this Christmas, thanks to the good employees at Longs on Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road. And I'm very grateful.

—Gay J. Crawford, Saratoga