Of course, you are correct regarding deletion of "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance so that the pledge would read as it had for decades before the unfortunate change in 1954. The wall of separation between church and state must be preserved. We will be a stronger nation for doing so.

Daniel N. Hoffman

Vineyard Lane

Facts presented clearly
in the pledge editorial

Kudos to the Saratoga News for the Sept. 21 editorial about the Pledge of Allegiance! It was a thoughtful and clear expression of the facts.

Terry Zaccone

Anza Drive

Analysis flawed in
'under God' editorial

You claim that your support of deleting "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance is because of Constitutional considerations rather than religious. However, the analysis provided to support this reasoning was flawed and incomplete.

The phrase "separation of church and state" is not found anywhere in our Constitution. It appeared in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to Baptists in Connecticut who were concerned that their religious freedom was not stable since it was granted by the state legislature. Jefferson's "wall of separation" was a one-way wall; intended to keep government out of religion--not the other way around. On the contrary, a closer look at Jefferson's beliefs shows unmistakably his views of God and government. For example, a quotation from him inscribed on the Jefferson Memorial reads: "God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?"

America was founded, and is today, one nation under God, and I'm proud to be an American.

Julie Howe

Los Gatos

No commercial antennas
in residential areas

Commercial antennas don't belong in 100 percent residential neighborhoods. Saratoga should not yield to commercial exploitation in our residential neighborhoods. The planning commission should reject this proposed location of the Nextel antenna because if it succeeds in being placed in a residential location surrounded by 100 percent homes precedence will be established for exploitation into any other residential area in Saratoga.

All the existing Nextel and Sprint sites that have antennas (Sprint Nextel Corporation now has 10 antennas after their recent merger) within the area identified by Nextel are in commercial or non-residential locations.

Other carriers in this area have not located their commercial antennas in 100 percent residential areas. Why should Nextel be allowed to do so?

Consider the impact of disrupting an entire local residential community so one organization, in a thoughtless disregard for its neighbors, can get an extra $2,000 per month. Seventy-nine percent of the Saratoga neighbors who are in close proximity to the proposed location are opposed to this intrusion on their residential community. These local residents chose Saratoga because they thought it was a city where protection of the residential atmosphere is very important. They purchased their homes in this residential community with that belief and pay their taxes to support their city. Their concerns should be addressed and those concerns should count.

Paul Fontenot

Eric Drive

Save North Campus
for the community

The city council is asking for comments from Saratoga residents on its intention to rezone 2.6 acres of city property on Prospect Avenue from public to residential with an approved subdivision for nine residential lots.

The property is located at 19848 Prospect Road between Scully and Blaney. It is the former Grace United Methodist Church property and has been referred to as the North Campus.

To make the changes the city must ask the residents for their comments on:

1. Changing the city's general plan from public to residential designation.

2. Creating a nine-lot subdivision out of this city land.

If you want to comment on or protest this proposed change in writing, the city asks you send your comments to John Livingston, Community Development, 13777 Fruitvale Ave., Saratoga, CA 95070. The city will receive comments by Sept. 30.

As active citizens who are concerned about the future of Saratoga, we are very concerned at the loss of this city property because the city is 98 percent developed and this may be the last large property that could be used as community center for the children, teens, adults and seniors.

We urge you to write to the city and voice your opinion on these proposed changes. We feel this property should be saved for the public.

Jack Mallory, Chairman

Citizens to Create the North Community Center

CLARIFICATION

The editorial in last week's Saratoga News, suggested that the words "under God" should be deleted from the Pledge of Allegiance. Although we encourage a diversity of opinions on our opinion pages, an editorial represents the views of the newspaper itself and, thus, must be approved by the publisher. Because the publisher David Cohen was out of town, the normal approval process was not followed, and the piece ran without his approval. Had he

had the opportunity to see it prior to publication, he would not have approved it as an editorial, but would have suggested that editor Dick Sparrer run it as an opinion piece under his own byline.

--Dale Bryant, Executive Editor