Reader Wire Reader Wire (January 03, 2003)

Slander and Stanford

I suggest the writers of two recent letters ("Stanford's Swindle" on Dec. 27 and "The meaning of 'trail'" on Nov. 27) look up another definition in their dictionary-of-choice: "slander" -- "the utterance of false charges or misrepresentations which defame and damage another's reputation.

I don't know the precise terms of what Stanford and Santa Clara County agreed to regarding potential public pathways as part of the GUP process. However, to loosely define Stanford's actions as a "swindle," or to posit a definition of "trail" (which, by the way, can only exist within the context of a "wild region") and declare that Stanford is rather proposing a "sidewalk," reads rather like "slander" to me.

Slandering Stanford seems to be quite the sport for some but it isn't terribly productive and, frankly, getting to be rather boring. Alan Mela Blue Oak Lane, Los Altos
Stanford a 'swindler'?

As an "Old Blue," it becomes a choking situation to support Stanford. I moved here from Berkeley almost 50 years ago. Over that time I have seen considerable change. But in that time I have also seen Stanford give more to Palo Alto and the surrounding area than Palo Alto, et al, have given in return.

Frankly it gets a bit tiresome to read the vitriol expressed by those groups who do not get their way.

In the past couple of weeks the "Green Foothills" and the "Open Space" groups have been a bit upset because the county approved the Stanford trail issue rather than their plan. If they feel so strongly about it then I suggest they take up the issue that county counsel felt had no legal base on which a suit could or would be won.

And then in the Dec.27 Weekly I learned that Stanford is a swindler. Why? Because they "succeeded in eliminating from consideration any trail easements that would enjoy significant use and constitute real value returned to the community within the framework of the GUP."

In other words, Stanford will not give us what we want and we won't get significant use out of the Stanford plan that is so much worse than ours! I wonder who made the determination that Stanford "promises something of value and then substitutes something of no value" which is "commonly known as a swindle."

The letter then goes on to accuse Stanford of being "incapable of honesty and compassion." Daniel H. Goodman Trinity Drive, Menlo Park
What 'comfort'?

When I read about the 1,000-bed hospital ship "Comfort" to be stationed in the Persian Gulf, I mentally pictured those 1,000 beds filled with wounded, suffering people.

The United States would be wholly to blame for those injuries and deaths, and for those to many more to people from ''enemy" countries. Can anything be done to prevent this nation from taking on the god-like role of inflicting unspeakable harm upon tens of thousands of innocent people in order to perpetuate its ruthless reign of power and intimidation? Alberta Jasberg Los Robles Avenue, Palo Alto
Deplorable conditions

I cried this morning when I read the headline: "Captives held in painful positions, deprived of sleep."

This isn't the America I believe in. Is it yours? If my son were captured in a war, I would want him to be treated humanely, wouldn't you?

When we torture prisoners, or jail engineers or dentists whose only "crime" is being from a Muslim country and reporting two days late to the INS, I feel disgusted.

As Barbara Lee said, "Let us not become the evil that we deplore." Annette Isaacson Webster Street, Palo Alto
A 'Golden' surprise

If you want to see a wonderfully uplifting performance this season, see TheatreWorks' "On Golden Pond."

I disliked the film so much, I was not looking forward to the play. What a surprise! It was entertaining and well acted by George Ward and Linda Hoy. The set made you feel you were there in the cabin on the lake.

This is a must-see! Barbara Cleveland Kipling Street, Palo Alto