Letters to the Editor

There are less than three months until the election, an election that will decide the next President of the United States. The man elected will be the president of ALL Americans, not just the Democrats or the Republicans.

To show our solidarity as Americans, let's all get together and show each other our support for the candidate of our choice. It's time that we all came together, Democrats and Republicans alike.

If you support the policies and character of Senator John Kerry, please drive with your headlights "ON" during the day.

If you support George Bush, please drive with your headlights "OFF" at night.

Tom Elliott

San Mateo

Please write for justice

Editor,

In the Friday edition of the Daily Journal (8/27/04) was an article about the death of Chris Alfama. Chris, if you don't know, was a young and very dedicated teacher at Hillsdale High School. Because of his giving and selfless nature, Chris was making a difference in our community as an educator; he was the kind of teacher we all would want for our children.

Chris was killed by Humberto Avina of Redwood City. Humberto Avina was drinking heavily before he decided to get behind the wheel of his automobile. He had an expired license and should not have been driving for that reason alone. Humberto Avina collided his Ford Thunderbird into Chris' sport utility vehicle, forcing Chris off the road, (Highway 101 in Sunnyvale), and into a tree, crushing the top of Chris' vehicle and killing him instantly. Humberto Avina fled the scene of the accident and was arrested later by police at his Redwood City home.

When I first read about the tragic death of Chris Alfama I was deeply saddened and angered. It was more than ironic that this selfless and giving individual should be killed by another who was completely selfish in every way of his irresponsibility and endangerment to others; it was horrific. That is why when I read the follow-up article in Friday's paper and it was asking for people to write to the judge in advance of the sentencing hearing, I determined to do so. I hope others will also be moved to write, as I did, and ask for the highest order of justice as the law will permit.

If you care to write to the judge, below I have included the name and address to send a letter to. It needs to be received on or before Sept. 8.

Honorable Charles Hayden,

Superior Court Judge

Santa Clara County Probation

Department

840 Guadalupe Parkway

San Jose, Ca 95110

Matt Grocott

San Carlos City Council

Keep local control local

Editor,

Redwood City, along with many other municipalities and the League of California Cities, is strongly opposed to Assembly Bill 2702.

This bill attempts to dictate the specific requirements of local zoning ordinances and make them applicable to every neighborhood in the state, requiring a re-write of local ordinances and imposing an absurd "one-size-fits-all" approach. It will transfer significant local land use authority to Sacramento - and frankly, cities are fed up with the state's attempts to dilute local authority over such critical local matters.

One provision of the bill mandates specific housing densities for school sites, which abruptly usurps local zoning authority and represents irresponsible planning with no appreciation or understanding of location, traffic, site conditions, or other local issues.

Why would our communities want to give such local residential zoning authority to the state? Such important local land use decisions should be left to local governments, and local communities, who can best determine the impacts those decisions will have on their own community.

This is an ill-conceived bill, and it seems nonsensical to advance legislation of this nature at a time when cities continue to suffer severe losses of local revenues to the state. Redwood City is urging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to veto this bill, as a wrong-headed and unnecessary attempt to take local land use decisions away from local elected officials and their constituents.

Jeff Ira

Redwood City mayor

Abstract terms

Editor,

"Overnight, these three men, together with other veterans, have turned on Kerry, saying his medals and wounds were fabricated. It makes no sense except to understand that the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is funded by Bob Perry and Harlan Crowe, two men close to Bush and the Texas GOP. This tactic pits the Swift Boat Veterans against the men on Kerry's ship who swear by their former skipper and his heroism. It calls into question their integrity. It moves the campaign away from the issues and onto events that took place 30 years ago." This is always a very effective tactic of leaders - to turn the attention of the public from the real problems in their own country to an outside problem.

Maybe it's because they have such a short attention span and memory. As one journalist commented, a short memory is a great boost to self-esteem. It helps when you can so easily forget the past and tune out reality. In Orwell's book "1984," the main character worked for the "Ministry of Truth," dedicated to eliminating every vestige of the truth and replacing it with what the government said was truth. Sounds just like some governments today, and like many politicians. Whoever wins the war, they write the books, so you will never hear the truth of what really happened.

The prophetic novel - about a government that controls the masses by spreading propaganda, cracking down on subversive thought and altering history to suit its needs - was intended to be read as a warning about the evils of totalitarianism. In "1984," the state remained perpetually at war against a vague and ever-changing enemy. The war took place largely in the abstract, but it served as a convenient vehicle to fuel hatred, nurture fear and justify the regime's autocratic practices.

Ted Rudow III

Menlo Park