Publication Date: Friday, December 05, 2003
ReaderWire
ReaderWire
(December 05, 2003)
Another option
Contrary to the assertion of Gerald Brett (Board of Contributors, Nov. 26), Comcast does not have a monopoly on cable television in Palo Alto.
I am an employee of a local company, Space Systems/Loral, that makes satellites for the Dish network and DirecTV, which deliver TV to the home. An 18-inch dish can supply hundreds of television channels and Internet access to any location.
We are currently completing the next generation DirecTV with spot beams for local coverage.
Kent M. Price
San Antonio Road, Palo Alto
Request to Bush
I want President Bush to appear, with all the press that covered his "surprise visit" to Iraq, at the funerals of the service men and women who have died in Iraq as the result of his insane, politically driven policies.
David Rapaport
Maddux Drive, Palo Alto
Big Game garbage
On Sunday morning (Nov. 30) I was out for a nice run through Palo Alto, part of Menlo Park and the Stanford University campus. Stanford is a great place to run, with a variety of things to see and many paths to enjoy.
I was returning through the Arboretum just south of Palm Drive. It was disgusting. The garbage left from the previous night's football game was everywhere.
Empty beer bottles littered the ground, along with fast-food wrappers and even some emptied-out ashtrays. I don't understand this. Why is it that folks think it is OK to just toss their leftover containers on the ground?
I read that only 46,500 fans attended the game. It looked like all of them fumbled their litter on the way to the garbage can.
Amanda Jones
Palo Alto Avenue, Palo Alto
Reconsidering Park
I would like to thank Mr. Crittenden for reconsidering use of his El Camino Real/Menlo Park property as a theater again. Like many friends and neighbors here who frequented the Park in Menlo Park Theater, I was saddened to see the struggling Landmark chain forced out of its location of many years.
A week or two later, we were all devastated to see the "Park" sign missing one morning. I would prefer Landmark's use of that space as a twin-screen theater, mirroring what they have, and the kinds of films showing, in Palo Alto.
I love the kinds of films they show. Has the "Park" sign been trashed or can it also be reinstated? Thanks for re-evaluating the use of the property as a theater again.
Patricia Gracheff
Theresa Court, Menlo Park
Bad faith approach
I would be the last to suggest that systematic change isn't often accompanied by tension and discomfort. In fact, I think many people of faith are guilty of ignoring justice issues because of their desire to remain comfortable.
Sometimes, however, our honorable causes get lost in manipulation, intimidation and dishonesty.
Example: When an interfaith group such as Peninsula Interfaith Action (PIA) went into a Latino community such as Castro Elementary School in Mountain View and succeeded in alienating those very people they are attempting to serve, they undercut an initially honorable cause.
Recently, PIA decided that it wanted to "help" the school board to better listen to the concerns of their students' parents. To accomplish this they went to a school board meeting. PIA spoke with their backs to the very board to whom they should have been speaking.
PIA had a translator who was less than honest in his translation. As the community entered the meeting, "PIA" stickers were put on members of the audience in order to make it look to the board that there were PIA supporters present, when in fact most of those present didn't even know what "PIA" was all about.
When a Castro teacher (a woman who deeply cares about faith and justice issues) asked if she could attend a PIA meeting to learn more about PIA, she was met with, "I'm not able to tell you when we meet."
PIA's techniques were adversarial and combative, not reconciling, and not a good example of a faith approach.
Rev. Dona Smith-Powers
Rambow Drive, Palo Alto
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