The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Letters

Did anyone else see the 'smear campaign'?

The Nov. 26 issue of Metro [The Sun's parent publication] reports that onetime City Council candidate Michael Szymanski recently emailed The Sun, saying, "I care little about what the public thinks." (Michael may actually be grateful to those who voted for him.) Metro mentions Michael's charges of a "smear campaign" against him and "falsehoods" about him planted in The Sun. Did anyone else see such things? If he is certain, Michael should talk to The Sun and publicly identify and correct in the press each "smear" and "falsehood." Otherwise, the original Sun report stands as the truth--in the mind of Michael's thinking public.

Robert Thoen
Sunnyvale

Three cheers for those behind CHS child care

You know the scenario: You're sitting in meetings for months, searching for solutions, but your group's reports, received with thanks and fanfare, are filed. The status quo remains, but these meetings are useful.

We met for years to reduce teen pregnancy and to support young parents through high school graduation. We listened to the moms. We refined our goals. Some faces changed, but we developed our critical core.

Among these were Regis and Dianne McKenna. Dianne took the leadership on this issue countywide, longer than anyone. Joe Hamilton carried the banner in the district office and the community, along with Barbara Nunes, principal at Cupertino High School. Barbara Lacerenza led the program, fielded questions and pursued funding. Bea Sayre kept us organized. Nancy Forsberg and other wonderful teachers joined the fight for funding and acceptance. Local service organizations were generous with their time and money: Rotary, El Camino Hospital and many others. Mary Ann Reilly brought in San Jose State's School of Nursing. Carl Dunn supervised district and volunteer work that transformed a former auto shop into a colorful, modern nursery and preschool.

Cupertino High School's Child Care Center serves students in the Fremont Union High School District and the Cupertino and Sunnyvale elementary districts. Along with their schoolwork, young people learn to be better parents and responsible adults.

We have more to do. After all those meetings, the most dedicated found each other and attracted others. We know we can work miracles!

Linda Lanterman
Former FUHSD trustee

The best candidate won

It is time for Mike Szymanski to give long-overdue congratulations to Councilmember Julia Miller and quit blaming his loss on everything but himself.

Julia Miller won because more voters agreed she was the best-qualified person for the job. Julia spent time every single day during the three months prior to the election walking precincts to meet the voters. Julia attended every forum that she was invited to; frequently, she and Fred Fowler were the only two candidates attending the forums. Julia also completed and returned every questionnaire sent to her. Because of her extensive qualifications, Julia still received many more organizational endorsements than the other two candidates for Seat 2 combined-- even in those few cases when the other two candidates did return the questionnaires or appear at forums.

I volunteered for Julia Miller's campaign because I also felt she was the best-qualified candidate. During the course of the campaign, more and more people agreed with me. These voters were very enthusiastic about Julia; they contributed to her campaign, they volunteered, they told their neighbors about her and they wrote letters to the editors of the local newspapers to tell others about her. To say that these letters were part of an orchestrated "smear" campaign by Miller is an unfounded insult, not only to Julia Miller and those volunteers who worked so hard to elect her, but also to the citizens who wrote the letters.

Gay Katilius
Sunnyvale

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Letters

The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper