Letters to the Editor

So the great city of San Mateo has to decide whether to keep Bay Meadows or tear it down and replace it with a sprawling mega-shopping/office complex - as a lifelong resident of this area, it seems to me that the answer to that question is a fairly simple one.

In this day and age, when most of our wonderful, enjoyable past pleasure palaces have been obliterated along with most of this area's historic buildings, there is still some question regarding keeping a segment of our past? Unbelievable!

Would the cities that house Hollywood Park, Santa Anita, etc. make a ridiculous decision to tear them down for yet another unwanted and unneeded high density complex? I don't think so.

What's next, the county fair?

Bay Meadows is indeed an historic landmark worthy of keeping for future generations - don't make hasty decisions for our great-grandchildren.

J.N. Palermo

San Jose

Kennedy rewards student achievement

Editor,

I read with dismay the letter from "Name Withheld" from Redwood City complaining about the wasteful spending of money on our community's children, "School spending precious funds in unneeded areas" in the June 25 edition of the Daily Journal.

The special lunch and transportation costs for a small group of eighth grade students is funded with private donations given to the school specifically for this purpose.

Kennedy has had a long-held tradition of honoring students who manage to maintain straight A's throughout their three-year stay at Kennedy. They must maintain this accomplishment for 12 reporting periods. This is no small feat for children who are pressured daily by peers, who do not share their enthusiasm for excellence, to take a more relaxed approach to education. Today's culture ridicules the "bookworms" and "geeks," but Kennedy rewards student achievement. Dedicated staff members work hard to obtain private funding to enhance our children's school experiences.

I have a long association with the Redwood City School District as a parent and staff member. Although I could have sent my children to any middle school in Redwood City, I chose Kennedy because of its reputation for excellence. We are a California Distinguished School because of our programs that feature homework club, reading and math intervention, Saturday Math Academy, music, drama, art, sports, cultural studies, computer classes and educational trips to the Grand Canyon and Washington, D.C.

Our school provides support for our children to attend summer programs such as the Stanford Math Institute and the Compass Program to aid the transition of students to high school. Space limits the mention of other things that we do for the future generation.

What I find especially troubling is that "Name Withheld" did not take the time to inquire how Kennedy managed to come up with these funds. The school does not have yearly agreements with any limousine company, we shop around for the best value for transportation costs. In addition, Black Angus lent us its support by giving us discounted prices for this special event. This disgruntled parent needs to get their facts straight before making statements in an attempt to undermine the public's confidence in Kennedy's ability to achieve its mandate to educate our community's children.

Sylvia Cooper

Attendance Secretary

Kennedy Middle School

TNR program both effective and humane

The Daily Journal received a copy of this letter addressed to the Foster City Council:

I respectfully urge you to support Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programs in Foster City. TNR is an effective, internationally recognized program to reduce, and eventually eliminate, feral cat colonies.

A feral cat is a homeless domestic animal with a strong fear of humans. These cats find themselves in their current situation due to the public's irresponsibility; the refusal to spay/neuter and abandoning of cats who are no longer wanted has slowly created the existing feral cat colonies found throughout the country. Killing the victims of such negligence should not be a consideration.

TNR has been proven to be the most effective, humane solution for feral cat colonies. For example, Hamilton, New Jersey's Township Health Department statistics show that the number of homeless cats killed last year is less than 20 percent of the 571 cats put to death in Hamilton five years ago, before TNR. Moreover, fewer strays are brought to the Hamilton shelter each year. Township spokeswoman Rich McClellan attributed this impressive success to the work of TNR caretakers.

The public has been provided with false information regarding ferals, thus leading to unnecessary fear and panic. Such misinformation has led people to believe that feral cats are carriers of rabies, therefore posing a serious public health risk. Rabies is not commonly found within feral cat colonies.

Feral cats have been erroneously blamed for bird decline. While it is true that outdoor cats do occasionally kill birds, the main cause of bird decline is habitat loss, which is caused by humans, not cats.

Even where cats might be observed hunting, killing the cats fails to address this issue. This is because traditional, agency-run attempts to trap and kill cats have historically resulted in greater numbers of homeless animals than have well-planned systems to trap, alter, and return cats. The latter method stabilizes numbers and facilitates the eventual elimination of colonies of homeless cats.

J.J. Eck

Via e-mail