March 4, 2004

Reader is disturbed by “Passion of the Christ” article

Editor,

I was disturbed to read the article in the Almaden Times Weekly, February 13-19, 2004, on the “Passion of the Christ” movie. The subtitle on the article read “Local churches anticipate the impact of Gibson film.” If the intent of the article was strictly to report how the churches viewed the upcoming film, then I suppose the mission was accomplished. However, maybe it would have been more appropriate to look into how the movie impacted the Almaden community as a whole.

Staff Writer Candy Richter stated that “...one thing is universal-that this event offers a chance for new perspective and growth for all members of the community.” She also quoted local church officials, such as the director of evangelism at South Hills Community Church, Paul Dumesnil, with his feeling that he “sees ‘Passion' as an opportunity for Christians to introduce non-believing friends to Christianity.” There are those of us in Almaden (and the larger community) who are perfectly comfortable with our “non-Christian” status. The Almaden community is made up of many ethnicities and religions. Where are the quotes from those who are Buddhist, Muslim, Bahai, Jewish, atheist or agnostic (my apologies if I left anybody out)? Ms. Richter was irresponsible in not speaking with those individuals who may have different thoughts on this subject.

The Christian community is understandably excited about a religious film of this magnitude, offering them an opportunity for spiritual reflection and validation. However, it will not be so for everyone. Ms. Richter remarked that Gibson is known for his “accurate” portrayals of historical events. Gibson chose to show a strictly Biblical view while straying from historical facts. I want to believe that neither Mr. Gibson nor the movie is racist however, he chose to portray a time in history in a slanted and biased way, creating the potential for tremendous backlash to the Jewish community. Everybody should remember that this is only Mel Gibson's personal version of history.

I am offended because the article did not show any opinion other than those who believe Jesus is their Savior. We should all be open to other perspectives and think past a majority view, so that our own view does not become narrow and exclusive. If one is going to claim that “...this event offers a chance for new perspective and growth for all members of the community,” then one should, indeed, include all members. For the first time in nine years of living in Almaden, I felt excluded.

Julie Plott

Proposed sports fields only for older youths

Editor,

On its Web site in "Frequently Asked Questions" (www.almadenyouth.com), the AYA

(Almaden Youth Association) states that "since the soccer fields are full-sized, younger age teams, with smaller fields, will not play at this location." The cutoff for mini-soccer is age 10; youth athletes under 10 years of age play on 40- x 60-yard fields, whereas youth athletes over age 10 play on (nominally) 50- x 100-yard fields.

Will your child play at this location? According to the 2000 census data on the city of San Jose Web site (www.ci.sanjose.ca.us/planning/sjplan/data/Census_2000), children 5 to 9 years of age comprise 7.5 percent of the total District 10 population, and children 10 to 14 years of age comprise 7.2 percent of the total District 10 population. If we assume that the demographics of District 10 are representative of the demographics of Almaden Valley, then at least half of the Almaden Valley youth soccer athletes "will not play at this location".

In other words, AT LEAST HALF OF THE CHILDREN playing on Almaden Valley Youth Soccer League teams WILL BE EXCLUDED from the McKean Road Sports Complex, not because I say so, but BECAUSE AYA SAYS SO. Does it not make more sense to develop permanent fields now for ALL the children of Almaden Valley to play on instead of building a "temporary, interim" monument to inequity another 10 years from now. They are your children—you make the call!

Kathryn Tsai
Via Jose

Reader says without gay marriage, country is neither fair nor moral

Editor,

We must grant lesbian and gay couples the freedom to marry. It is only through civil marriage that they can achieve the civil and legal rights that the rest of us take for granted. Failure to do so, or worse, preventing such rights to those groups in the future, puts the lie to the notion of our country being fair or moral.

Geoff Huxley
La Pala Drive

Reader complains: It's always tax, tax, tax!

Editor,

Last year it was the San Jose Unified School District's Measure A school funding parcel tax. This year, it's the Union Elementary School District's Measure G school funding parcel tax.

It's always tax, tax, tax! It's never about cutting costs or practicing fiscal responsibility on the part of our local school districts.

Take the San Jose Unified School District, whose school funding parcel tax was rejected by voters last year. They can't make ends meet. And . . . why should anyone be surprised?

The San Jose Unified School District owns an 80-acre parcel (the former Caglia farm) in the South Almaden Urban Reserve. Instead of selling this prime acreage to make ends meet or instead of continuing to lease it for agricultural purposes at a market rate as it has done for the last 20 years, the San Jose Unified School District has agreed to lease it to the AYA for the McKean Road Sports Complex project at a paltry $1 per year for 20 years.

That's some return on its million-dollar investment of 20 years ago, don't you think? A few years ago, two undeveloped acres on McKean Road sold for a million dollars. At such a valuation, how many SJUSD schools, how many SJUSD school programs do you think selling 80 acres would preserve?

No wonder schools are closing and school districts are facing bankruptcy. If we ran our businesses or our households the way they do the schools, we'd be facing bankruptcy also!

Isn't it time we held the school districts accountable for their irresponsible management of our tax dollars—tax dollars which paid for the Caglia property in the first place?

Julia Shuleshko
Springpath Lane

Reader wants to see more bicycling stories

Editor,

As a resident of Almaden Valley, I would like to mention something of great concern regarding your paper. In this great community we live in, we have a lot of very active cyclists and I am not seeing any coverage regarding this activity.

I would hope the recent killing and injury of two cyclists in Los Gatos would prompt you to take another look at the awareness level in our community. The Almaden area supports two of the largest bicycle clubs in the bay area, The San Jose Bicycle Club and the Almaden Cycle Touring Club. These organizations have many members riding the roads throughout the valley and it is becoming a great concern of mine this could happen in our neck of the woods.

I am an avid cyclist and ride often with my family on the open roads in the South Bay. We attend races in the local area and support the Tierra Bella century. McKean/Calero/Uvas roads are standard routes for a lot of cyclists, but you never hear anything regarding the activity. What about safety issues, planned events or coverage of the local races to shed some light to a very dark understanding.

Once the District 10 Trail Project is complete, you are going to see a lot more cyclists, joggers, and families in the roadway using crosswalks and normal facilities that have not been used in a long time. Could you please add some local coverage for us parents that someday want to see our children ride bikes to school again without the fear they are going to be killed by a car?

Jim Thurber

Editor's reply: Excellent idea Jim, especially in light of Tuesday's news of two bicyclists being killed by a car on Coleman Avenue (near downtown). Expect to see more stories on bicycling in the near future.