By Send letters to editor Bruce Barton at the Town Crier, 138 Main St., Los Altos 94022, or e-mail:
Correction on
last week’s cover
I would expect a newspaper to get their facts straight before printing them. Erin Brodie isn’t the second woman to lead a multi-episode dating show; Hayley Arp was on Fox’s “Mr. Personality,” which was also produced by the same Bruce Nash who is doing “For Love or Money 2.”
Venice
Who hasn’t done
their homework?
Yes, it is a shame when letter writers haven’t done their homework about the Rosita Pools (Jim Thurber’s letter, last week’s Town Crier).
SPLASH is not a business enterprise with a goal of profit and neighborhood destruction. It is a group of volunteers who have donated countless hours to the support of a community pool, both in the past at the former Covington pool, and currently with the replacement pool program. The main point of going from one to two pools is to better meet the needs of the community.
Different pool activities require different pool temperatures. The planned new pools, one warm water for lessons, aqua aerobics, recreation, and one cooler water for youth and adult competitive training, and a small wading pool are 110 yards from the original community pool at Covington. As a community let’s get the pools built!
Los Altos
Why the difficulty
with Davis recall?
I am amazed that some people of Los Altos are having a difficult time supporting the Recall Gray Davis effort.
According to the front-page article from Wednesday, July 30, the main concern from those interviewed seemed to be how much this recall election is going to cost taxpayers. Last time I checked, the state of California had a $38 BILLION deficit. The “$30 to $35 million” it will cost to hold this special election is simply a drop in the ocean at this point! In fact, it is less than one-tenth of a percent of our total state deficit. Not to mention that because of Gray Davis’ spending habits, our state deficit grows by $13 million every day. So by the time October 7th rolls around we will be well on our way to a $39 billion hole.
One respondent said, “Republicans in Washington are licking their chops … Blaming the financial situation on Davis is not the answer; 48 other states are in the same predicament.” Maybe I haven’t been paying close enough attention, but as far as I know there is only one person who approved BILLIONS of fiscally irresponsible spending for unnecessary programs and jobs. And that person is governor Gray Davis. And let’s not forget our tax-and-spend state legislators, who drove the excessive spending, and are now lobbying for massive tax increases to make up for their mistakes. Further, it is grossly misleading to claim that 48 other states are in the same predicament. The state with the second highest deficit, after California, is New York with a $12 BILLION shortfall. I don’t see how $38 BILLION and $12 BILLION are comparable. In fact, California has a larger deficit than New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts combined!
Unless you feel the urge to pay exorbitant fees and taxes, watch more and more businesses flee the oppressive tax burden, see our children suffer because of large class sizes and less teachers, and watch our state’s economy slip further into the red, I highly suggest you vote to recall Gray Davis and put a more competent replacement in the governor’s office.
Los Altos
FoalQuest story
bought propaganda
I was greatly disturbed by the fluffy image of Premarin manufacture perpetuated by Robin Shepherd’s article “FoalQuest finds homes for young horses” (July 23 Town Crier). Shepherd only examined the Pregnant Mare Urine (PMU) issue from the side that Wyeth-Ayerst wants women to believe. I was surprised that such propaganda would appear in this newspaper.
Although Wyeth-Ayerst and their mouthpiece organizations would like you to believe that the 60,000 foals born every year find good homes, in reality 80-90 percent are brutally slaughtered for human consumption at just a few months of age, despite the efforts of rescue organizations. Wyeth-Ayerst does their best to keep the savage images of baby horses killed by captive bolt to the head hidden from public knowledge.
The care regulations the article boasts about are voluntary, and not at all humane. They permit the confinement of mares to a stall the size of a dinner table for six months of their pregnancy. The stalls are not big enough for the mares to stretch their legs or turn around. Once the mares have lived their shortened life of pregnancy after pregnancy, they follow their last baby to the slaughterhouse. Shepherd considers this humane treatment?
Shepherd explains how pure Premarin is; yet if you break open a pill, add water, and take a whiff, you can smell the torture barn.
There is nothing natural about Premarin, as indicated in the article. None of the estrogens in horse urine are found in humans. With all the virtues Shepherd espoused of Premarin, glaringly omitted was the latest research revealing how Premarin increases the chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease, heart attack, breast cancer, and stroke.
For an accurate portrayal of this cruel industry and information on what you can do to stop it, I encourage Town Crier readers to do their own research by visiting the Web site of United Animal Nations, www.uan.org.
Premarin truly is a bitter pill.
Program Coordinator
United Animal Nations
