Letters Letters (January 18, 2006)

In my own words

Editor,

I am in complete agreement with the position and statements of Palo Alto Weekly publisher Bill Johnson in the article titled "Hogle article plagiarized by Daily News" (Weekly, Jan. 11).

Johnson's statement that the explanation given by the Daily "either reflects atrocious editing procedures or a disregard for copyright law" is a point well taken. However, I would submit that the Daily's explanation reflects both "atrocious editing procedures" and "a disregard for copyright law."

In fairness, and to give the Daily its due, it has every right to find comfort in having little need to fear suffering from being victimized by plagiarism from articles (with occasional exceptions) written by its staff -- especially the editorials.

In closing, I hereby swear, by that Almighty Typesetter in the Sky, that the words written herein, excepting for quotes, are my own -- and I'd like to add, in fun, that I happen to have a friend who is a copyright attorney.
Doris Dahlgren
Sheridan Avenue
Palo Alto

Library comparisons

Editor,

A recent letter by Torben Gronning (Jan. 11) urged greater efficiency at the Palo Alto City Library and suggested Menlo Park's Library as a good example. We want to be more efficient and we can always learn from other libraries.

California's public-library statistics for 2005 show similarities between Palo Alto and Menlo Park: Palo Alto's annual circulation per capita is 21.8 while Menlo Park's is 18.9. Palo Alto's library is open .19 hours per capita while Menlo Park's is open .16 hours per capita. Palo Alto spends 13 percent of its budget on materials such as books and DVDs while Menlo Park spends 11 percent of its budget in that area.

Yet Menlo Park spends $45.51 per capita on library service and Palo Alto spends $78.09. If both jurisdictions provide similar services, why is Palo Alto's cost higher than Menlo Park's?

The difference is mainly because Menlo Park has two libraries and Palo Alto has five. When all Palo Alto branches are open, a minimum of five staff are required at the checkout desks, while Menlo Park requires a minimum of two. The many benefits of having multiple branches bring higher baseline staffing costs.

Mr. Gronning suggested cutting reference service, expanding volunteerism, streamlining cataloging, automating acquisitions and joining another consortium as ways to improve service. We are looking into these possibilities. Moreover, the Library Advisory Commission is working on a long-range plan which will be presented to the council later this year.

The commission welcomes all suggestions for better library service. Paula Simpson
Director, Palo Alto City Library
Forest Avenue
Palo Alto

Why Wi-Fi?

Editor,

The operative point in the article about fiber or Wi-Fi or both for Palo Alto (Jan. 13) was "proposals from private companies." While infrastructure projects attend municipal involvement, they do not necessarily imply municipal ownership and operation.

The existing services provided by Palo Alto, including our electrical, gas, waste and others, are a great value to our community. The flip side is that we did not have a good experience trying to operate a cable system. And phone services -- land-line and cellular -- always have been provided by private carriers.

There are merits to both propositions for Fiber-to-the-Home and Wi-Fi all over Palo Alto. And this technology is undergoing rapid change; it is not a predictable, stable environment that our other utilities present. The key benefit to getting private companies involved is that they will only do it if they can get a profitable return on their investment, which implies they are willing to face the types of risks and uncertainties that public institutions are not designed to address.

While I strongly support both fiber and Wi-Fi in Palo Alto, they still are too nascent to be viewed as "utilities." Let the risk and reward be with the private sector and let's have our city leadership support them in every way it can but not be a financer of these efforts.
Paul Losch
Lincoln Avenue
Palo Alto

Flood-warning distrust

Editor,

Fortunately, Karen Harwell and her neighbors received warning and instruction (Letters, Jan. 11) but those of us who were flooded by San Francisquito Creek in 1998 were not warned. We need to be warned early in a potential over-banking of the creek because we have the greatest risk of potential personal and physical loss.

We need lead time to move as many of our personal belongings above the flood line, move cars out of harm's way and prepare for evacuation. We have physically challenged neighbors we need to help rescue.

In the two hours that the phone-alert system was working on Dec. 31, we were not notified in the greater De Soto Drive neighborhood, which suffered many flooded homes in l998. I am not sure if the Sierra Court/St. Francis neighborhood, which was greatly impacted by the l998 flood, was contacted.

Fortunately this storm happened during daylight hours so we were somewhat aware of events. But we now have a lack of trust, because of the failure to be warned in l998 -- and now again in 2005.

I thought health and safety were priorities at the time of a flood. I do question why business offices west of Bayshore were notified on New Year's Eve when most of the offices were closed.

I would think residents were at greater risk.
Mary Carey Schaefer
De Soto Drive
Palo Alto

Armor or agility?

Editor,

Back in 1950, my full infantry field equipment weighed about 60 pounds. Today's infantryman with today's armor (we had no armor) packs about 80 pounds.

Body armor is nice, but an infantryman survives by mobility and agility, both of which suffer from too much of an equipment load, especially in 120-degree heat. If some on the Perfumed Pentagon Princes who issued that report -- and it was not secret, as was asserted -- were to have experienced combat conditions they might have not been so quick to issue their suggestions.

What do we do, blow the body-armor budget on extra poundage or develop lighter, cooler stuff? We went through this on the stupid HumVee armor and more soldiers died because add-on armor is essentially ineffective in protection but the added weight killed maneuverability.

Feather Merchants and Band-Aid purple-heart phonies will get the real soldiers killed every time.
Walter E. Wallis
Waverley Street
Palo Alto

Define 'Complete Victory'

Editor,

President Bush's new sales pitch, "Complete Victory," sends chills down my spine as I read the now-declassified document about President Nixon's "Peace with Honor" strategy at the waning years of the Vietnam War.

In March 1969, after publicly pledging to end the war, without Congress' knowledge or approval, Nixon ordered carpet bombing of neutral countries Laos and Cambodia to destroy supply routes of the Viet Cong. The bombing raids bearing code names of "Operation Breakfast," "Operation Snack," etc., went on for 14 months.

Historians put the civilian casualty to 350,000 in Laos and 600,000 in Cambodia (other estimates are higher). The widespread use of toxic defoliants such as Agent Orange continues to haunt the people of Laos and Cambodia to this day, causing several forms of cancer, the birth defect spina bifida, type-2 diabetes, and disorders of the nervous, immune and endocrine systems, particularly among children and women.

The war dragged on for years, during which 20,000 American soldiers lost their lives. Small price to pay, I guess, to save face for the warmongers.

Senators and Congressmen, citizens of America and people around the world, shall we keep a watchful eye on what President Bush has in mind for his strategy to achieve "Complete Victory"?
Simon Chiu
Talisman Court
Palo Alto

Impeachment potential

Editor,

I am appalled that the British courts have charged two courageous men, David Kreogh and Leo O'Conner, of violating the archaic British Official Secrets Act -- an act used to suppress the dark deeds of the British government.

It is encouraging to know there are some people who still follow the dictates of their conscience and refuse to be cowed by the British establishment. It is not surprising that the Blair government is attempting to suppress public knowledge of the meeting of Blair and his U.S. master in April 2004, in which a gun-toting Texan planned to bomb Al Jazeera in Quatar.

It is encouraging that more senior officials on both sides of the Atlantic are demanding accountability from the Blair and Bush governments. General Sir Michael Rose, a former commander of the United States troops in Bosnia, called for the impeachment of Prime Minister Blair for taking the country to war on false pretenses.

The general's remarks were unusually harsh for a commander of such senior rank: "No one can undo the decision to go to war but impeachment of Blair is now, I believe, something that must happen if we are to rekindle interest in the democratic process."

One can make a similar case for the impeachment of George Bush.
Jagjit Singh
Louisa Court
Palo Alto

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