Appreciated Sempervirens article
We greatly enjoyed your article about Sempervirens Fund (Jan. 11) and its 100-year effort to save the redwoods that thrive in our coastal mountains. It’s a wonderful organization and we’re glad more people will know about it.
We also want your readers to know that they can make a special contribution to this conservation effort by dedicating a tree or even a grove of trees as a gift to a loved one or to their families.
Last summer, the Millar clan secured a beautiful redwood grove in Big Basin State Park dedicated to our family. There are six wonderful trees and our name is on a handsome plaque commemorating the gift. The Millar grove has been accepted by California State Parks, which promises to preserve it in perpetuity. We can visit anytime or just feel pride in our having contributed to its survival.
Contact Sempervirens Fund and you’ll discover all the wonderful possibilities there are to preserve these gentle giants forever.
Pat and Eric Millar
Los Altos
Remembering Stevie
Nearly 500 mourners entered the auditorium at Los Altos High on Jan. 14 to grieve the loss of Stevie Seligman. She was a 19-year-old University of California at Riverside sophomore.
Stevie was a quirky, often intense and driven teen who wrestled on the Los Altos High School team with the boys, participated in many sports, in environmental causes and wanted to change the world.
With so much going for her, how does someone like Stevie get to the point of just giving up and calling it quits, ending her life?
Is it us who cease to listen? Do we not want to burden ourselves with problems and fears of today’s youth? Maybe it is a medical problem, or a genetic one, or a stress-induced outcome with many people so focused on excellence, and metrics, and grades, and income levels, and SAT scores, and body images and hair color.
What a shame to invest so much love, and to pin so many hopes on youth who are only with us such a short period of time.
Or maybe we each need to think that each day is a gift, and to appreciate the loved ones around us so that when they do pass on, either after a long and healthy life or even after a short one, we will be able to say that we appreciated what their lives had to offer all of us.
Jeff Greenwald
Los Altos
Support our local troops
I believe that as a community, it’s time we openly support our young men and women serving overseas in Iraq.
Mark Harvey, a 2003 Los Altos High School graduate and United States Marine, is embarking on a yearlong tour overseas in Iraq this month. He will be risking his life day in and day out so that we can enjoy the simple pleasures of life – pleasures the people of Los Altos know all too well but often take for granted.
The citizens of Los Altos neglect the war and forget that there are people dying so that they may enjoy all our wonderful city has to offer. Maybe now that we have one of our own over there, we will open our eyes and give our full support to Mark. We should all take a moment and be grateful that there are people like him to defend our civil liberties.
Mark, we support you and we anticipate your safe return. You are doing a great service to our country. We will not forget about you.
Jeremy Taylor
Los Altos
Upset over closure of subacute unit
I am extremely upset about El Camino Hospital’s decision to close its subacute care unit.
My mother has lived there for the past year. She is 68 years old and has muscular dystrophy, which has left her in a weakened condition. She has problems with her lungs and swallowing. She has a feeding tube and a vent because she can’t breathe on her own.
We chose El Camino Hospital for my mother’s care because it has an excellent reputation. My mother had been a patient at other facilities where she received terrible care. Since she has been at El Camino Hospital, her care has been first-class.
With El Camino Hospital shutting its subacute care unit, I am very afraid for my mother’s future. Because of my mother’s experiences with bad facilities, I will have no choice but to bring her home.
This will not only create a hardship on me, but also my mother, because she will not receive the same type of professional care.
El Camino Hospital is a public hospital. It has a duty to serve the most vulnerable patients like my mother.
El Camino Hospital has an elected board. They need to stand up to El Camino Hospital’s management and allow my mother and the other subacute patients to stay there.
Anita Roman
San Jose
The loss of culture
Everywhere I look today, I observe that nearly all the things that I as an American adult have considered important are being diminished, from the presidency and patriotism to the arts, anything under the heading of culture.
I see men eating in nice restaurants and even in church wearing hats. They were never taught that traditionally, men are never supposed to wear hats indoors.
People dress like mendicants and bums, even on airplanes. Churches have become theaters, now charging admission for music programs.
Worst of all is the diminishing of San Francisco’s cultural jewel, Davies Symphony Hall, to bring in “comedians” like Bill Maher and others. Can we expect Howard Stern at Davies in the near future? He should pack the house!
How could the 123-year-old San Jose Symphony, the oldest symphony orchestra west of the Mississippi River, go bankrupt for the price of a nice house in Los Altos Hills, and yet the city of San Jose can approve $4 million for a road race in downtown San Jose?
Why do Americans today, especially the youth, totally despise elegance, quality and eloquence, and yet tolerate, yes, court, bad taste in everything? What more can I say? Sadly, I’ve said it all.
Robert D. Meuse
Mountain View
