Publication Date: Friday, December 30, 2005
ReaderWire
ReaderWire
(December 30, 2005)
Sleep tight
Mike Sowers (Letters, Dec. 23) is completely off the mark on this one. Kids today are just that -- kids. Their bodies are still growing and, as a result, they need more sleep than adults.
High-school students are also under pressure to do well in school. They have much more homework now than I ever had when I attended Paly. It's not enough to just skate by with good grades and high test scores.
In order to get into a good college you have to show initiative in other areas as well, and that means untold hours of community service, varied other interests, involvement on sports teams and part-time jobs.
Lack of sleep, academic pressure, the need to please your parents and the normal stresses of being a teenager all add up to the perfect storm. Kids who decide to forgo college for other challenges can be just as stressed.
A later start time in high school will go a long way in giving these kids the sleep they need. I believe that these well-rested students will have a better chance at facing real-world challenges head-on.
Pat Markevitch
Emerson Street, Palo Alto
Examining evidence
The community groups opposing the expansion of the Alpine Road sidewalk do not act like Stanford and ignore the evidence supporting the other side's position; we acknowledge it.
A single checkmark in one table of the 1995 Trails Master Plan indicates the relevant part of the C-1 Trail was "completed," and this is Stanford's entire argument (Weekly letter from Jean McCown, Dec. 16).
By contrast, the Trails Map created for the Master Plan does not show the C-1 Trail as complete, but it does show the trail in Santa Clara County (therefore not the Alpine Road sidewalk), and shows the trail as not being alongside a road. The Map conflicts with the checkmark -- one of them is wrong.
Because the 1995 Map was changed from the earlier 1982 Trails Master Plan and even from a 1994 draft version, the best conclusion is that in 1995 the county expressly rejected the Alpine Road sidewalk as the C-1 Trail, but failed to remove a single checkmark in one table.
Stanford is well aware of the 1995 Map and chose not to mention it in its Dec. 16 letter. Readers should remember this when reading Stanford's justifications of its environmental policies.
As for Santa Clara County, the decision to give up a real C-1 Trail and expand a sidewalk instead indicates that ignoring the public interest is less politically painful than holding a powerful university to its promises. The county might even be right -- it's up to the community to determine whether this action is acceptable.
Brian Schmidt, Committee for Green Foothills
East Bayshore Road, Palo Alto
'Day One' not only one
While the addition of the retail store and educational center Day One to the Town and Country Village will benefit the shopping center and local parents (Shoptalk, Dec. 21), I must remind Ms. Savage and Mr. Zenoff that Day One will not be the only pre- and post-natal educational center on the Peninsula.
Maternal Connections at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View is a fully integrated lactation/educational/resource/retail center that has been serving the Peninsula community since 1996. Maternal Connections offers a full array of pre- and post-natal classes, onsite lactation services and a full retail center serving the needs of new families.
As a point of interest, Maternal Connections has been a major retailer of Mr. Zenoff's signature product called "My Brest Friend" since its inception.
Day One will be a welcome addition to the community, but certainly not the only resource for parents.
Michelle Paul-Vogel
Darlingto Court, Palo Alto
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