Letters to the editor Letters to the editor (September 02, 2005)

Chickens are good for the 'hood

Editor,

Our family was appalled to see there are people in Pleasanton who would be so upset with a 12-year-old girl raising chickens that they would hire an attorney to impose restrictions or seek their removal. What has our world come to? What kind of message are we sending to this girl and the rest of the community?

Do people forget that not to long ago this was a rural/agricultural community that still holds ties to that era? What is wrong with a 12-year-old girl raising four chickens in her backyard? It teaches an incredible amount of responsibility (feeding, watering and caring), provides wholesome fun and encourages love and respect for nature. I applaud the young girl for taking on such a challenging project.

Our daughter, who is now 17, started raising chickens as part of her 4-H project when she was 7-years-old. It was an incredible experience not only for her but for our whole family as well. As for our neighbors, every one of them was very supportive of this project. They would often come by with their children in tow to see and play with them. They would volunteer to take care of them when we were on vacation and look after them if one escaped out of the back yard.

The bottom line is these chickens, despite the work entailed, provided a sense of interest and fun for our family and all our neighbors. Not once did we ever here one single complaint and I believe in one small way it brought our neighbors closer together.

Let this girl raise her chickens. The only nuisances I see are the neighbors who need to find more important issues to worry about. Robert Sygiel Zwissig Court Don't forget in-home tutoring

Editor,

Your Aug. 5 article on tutoring centers is a valuable resource, though it offers a limited discussion of the options for parents looking for ways to help their students succeed. Depending on the student's and family's unique needs, parents might want to consider other enrichment possibilities.

For some families, the cost of tutoring is an issue. In addition to meeting with teachers outside of class, students should check out free tutoring programs that may be offered by schools and libraries as well as the wide variety of free academic resources available online.

For other families, in-home tutoring is an option to explore. The one-on-one approach offers personalized attention and flexible scheduling while eliminating drive time for parents and students. And contrary to popular belief, costs are often in line with those of tutoring centers, in large part because students can cover more material in less time. Eva Holtz Founder/Director PrepPoint In-Home Tutoring No where to park

Editor,

Parking has to be an area of concern for the City of Pleasanton. I along with some out-of-town guests were looking forward to spending the day in San Francisco. The plan was that we would park at the Dublin/Pleasanton parking lot and use B.A.R.T. It can be a very efficient and quick way to get to the city. I say "can be," as we could not find parking anywhere. We tried the Pleasanton side and then over the freeway to the Dublin side. How frustrating that was. We were not willing to park illegally as many cars had done, as I'm sure the B.A.R.T. personnel would be quick to issue a ticket/fine or even arrange for the vehicle to be towed. The time was midday and I can see why people do not use B.A.R.T. Who can be bothered to drive around for 40 minutes looking for a space? Wendy Kirkup Pleasanton Stop Stoneridge extension

Editor,

The Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce (PCC) has begun a campaign to extend Stoneridge Drive to Livermore. Already they have had a traffic engineer say that it would reduce traffic on Valley and Santa Rita and that no additional cut-through traffic would result.

Do they think the people of Pleasanton are fools? We all know the 580 and 680 commute are horrible. So, by opening another route to try to get around that mess wouldn't be used. Who are they trying to kid?

We have elected a council and mayor, all of whom oppose extending Stoneridge. I hope that they will be steadfast in their opposition. I hope that this will be taken out of the General Plan. By the way, I'll bet Livermore will be just thrilled to have all the traffic headed their way. Should PCC persist in this? There is a simple way to stop it in its track. Don't sign the petition! Paul Ebright Pleasanton

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