Quit the Baloney: Cell Phone Towers are Not Harmful to Humans
Dear Editor,
Mr. Cote’s latest letter to the editor regarding cell phone towers claims there is real fear out in the community regarding cell phone tower radio emissions. I submit that almost all the fear that exists derives directly from his technically devoid campaign against these same towers. Let’s briefly review the evidence one more time.
First, the science underlying cell phone technology predicts no adverse effects on health. The radio waves are far too weak (actually 100,000 times too weak) to cause any disruption of the chemical bonds in the compounds comprising our bodies. Thus, there is no first principles expectation of harm!
Second, there have been two rounds of experimental investigations in an effort to detect some health effect. The first round in the years before 1996 found absolutely no health effects but was dismissed by the anti-cell phone activists because of substantial funding by the telecommunication industry.
As a result, the World Health Organization initiated the International EMF Project in 1996 to settle the issue without any taint of industry funding. Also note that Mr. Cote’s latest letter attempts to resurrect this bias argument by mentioning the heavy lobbying by the communication industry (on entirely different issues) in Washington. This argument is irrelevant in this case since the World Health Organization is an agency of the United Nations and is dominated by non-U.S. scientists. They are hardly likely to be influenced by any lobbying to the US Congress.
WHO is an independent, credible and technically qualified agency and now, after 10 years of work, has published their conclusions regarding adverse health effects from cell phone towers. There are none!
Third, the general populace, including small children and kindergarteners, have been exposed to FM and TV radiation radio waves at signal strengths equal to but usually higher than that from cell phone towers for 50 years without any detectable health effects. This exposure includes that portion of the TV spectrum that lies in the microwave range.
Considering all of the above results, it certainly seems that the hard, scientific evidence denying any health effects is overwhelming. Yet Mr. Cote persists in promoting fear of cell phone tower radio emissions. At this point it would seem incumbent of Mr. Cote to indicate why he is more qualified than the World Health Organization to advise the community regarding cell phone tower health risks.
Finally, the Gilroy Tower Ordinance, an ordinance implemented in response to a fictitious risk can hardly be called “well crafted!” It should be repealed. At this point, the immortal words of sportscaster Don Merideth are most appropriate: “Turn out the lights. The party’s over!”
Mark Lyons, Gilroy
Keep the Cheerleader Controversy in Proper Community Perspective
Dear Editor,
As a member of the Morgan Hill Unified School Board, I am always on the lookout for articles on education. It should come as no surprise that I was drawn to the stories about your board’s struggle with approving the trip of Gilroy High School cheerleaders going to Hawaii.
I am writing this letter not to go over the arguments pro and con that your board has already stated so well, but to address another issue brought up in your paper. You ran a Web poll to determine if the school board members who voted not to let the cheerleaders go to Hawaii should be voted out of office. Of the 203 votes, 49 percent voted yes. It is to these people that I would like to address.
I would caution anyone using one issue as a basis for determining the worth of any elected official. While it is your right and even obligation to voice disproval of decisions you do not agree with, it is another to want to oust a person on a disagreement. I was surprised that the paper would trivialize active governance.
We are not always going to agree with decisions made by those we choose for office. One of the reasons we elect more than one person to govern, is so that many sets of eyes and minds can tackle complex issues and look at them from many angles. Even if you felt they are in error, you have to admire the courage it takes to have these officials stand up for what they believe is right, in face of a crowd overwhelmingly supportive of another position.
In closing, would we want our politicians to feel that every unpopular vote they made would open them up to losing their positions? Or would we want to continue to have our community voices heard and listened to, without adding fear to the decision process of those we choose to make those choices for us?
Kathy Sullivan, Morgan Hill School Board Trustee
The Golden Quill is awarded occasionally for a well-written
letter.
Maybe the Federal Standards are Too Tough for Gilroy Students
Dear Editor,
After reading Tom Bundros’s plea to the public recently, I just have to respond. He says, and I quote, “No Child Left Behind expects 100 percent of students to be proficient by 2014, with strong and expensive penalties if schools don’t perform to a steep year-to-year road map of improvement.” Then he adds, “I submit to you that a 2.0 GPA is not an indicator of proficiency. A 2.0 is a ‘C’; a ‘C’ means “average”, and “average” for this district means “not proficient.”
How did our schools get into such a sorry state of affairs? Why should schools have expensive penalties if they are unable to reach unreasonable goals? Isn’t the idea of school to educate students to read and write and understand math? NOT EVERY student is going to excel in academics. Since when it is a crime to be average? Students are people, too. People are not all shaped from the same mold.
If No Child Left Behind expects 100 percent of the students to be above average then that is where the problem starts. Let’s begin a movement to repeal this program and try something else, because it is NOT working! It puts way to much pressure on the teachers to improve student test scores. All this testing is taking classroom time away that could be used more creatively to reach more students.
Tom, I admire your lofty dream to prepare our children to graduate into a bright and exciting future; to thrive, prosper and be positioned to support themselves, their families and give back to their community. In a perfect world that would be great, but this is not a perfect world. This is a fallen world where some kids have problems, where some families struggle more than others just to make the rent. Let’s get real. Let’s be fair and flexible. Let’s do our very best, but we can not expect perfection.
Nancy Murphy, San Martin
This Very Special Junior High Coach Remains Close to His Heart
Dear Editor,
Thanks to Sports Editor Marc David for writing the story about Coach Jim Fahey. It brought back some very special old memories.
Coach Fahey was my Brownell Jr. High wrestling coach in 1968. I’m 53 today, but it feels like it all happened yesterday. And I think it was also his first coaching job that eventually led to his very successful coaching career.
I first met Jim Fahey when I entered his 7th grade math class. Jim was a very inspirational teacher. He eventually got me to join the wrestling team because I was fighting with all the guys in our math class.
The very first year he became the head wrestling coach, our team went on to win every match and first place at the Santa Clara County tournament.
Coach Fahey convinced our team (especially me) that we were invincible, and we were that year in 1968. And the following years his other teams were just as victorious.
I will never forget the day I won first place at the county finals. Coach Fahey was more exited than I was. He lifted me up onto his right shoulder and carried me around the six large wrestling mats. I remember feeling like just won an Olympic medal.
Later that day he told me I was his first-ever champion. I have always felt different because he told me that, especially after reading your story. I learned a lot from him – mostly about life. I will always remember Coach Fahey as the greatest coach and friend I have ever had the lucky pleasure to know.
Let Coach Fahey know that his first champion still has the memories of those long ago moments carved onto his heart.
Raul Marquez, Berkeley
