Outrageous treatment of students wearing flag shirts

Letters on the flag shirt controversy at Live Oak High, 8
firefighters responding to a call, high-speed rail and the bicycle
jumps made by the kids
Father’s a war veteran, hard to believe ‘attack on race’

Dear Editor,

I am a resident of Morgan Hill and I am totally embarrassed by the sense of racial hatred that has surfaced in our community.

My father is a Vietnam Veteran who served bravely with the 101st Airborne. He fought for the Stars and Stripes, and as a family, we are proud to be Americans. But the incident that occurred at the high school had an underlying message, and it was clearly a calculated attack on “race” and a blatant abuse of the freedoms afforded to us by our great Constitution. 

The only thing that has been proven is that racism and ignorance still exist, and that is a shame.

Monica Gomez, Morgan Hill 

Live Oak alum can’t believe the school’s administration

Dear Editor,

What is going on in our country? We allow “them” to celebrate their national holiday in our country as a courtesy. it is taken for granted that “they” can celebrate their heritage – why not? We all have lineage to another country of origin. 

Where does it say that “we” cannot celebrate our heritage in our country as long as we are not violating some obscure law? This whole situation has gotten completely out of hand. After all, this is collectively our country. Absolute kudos to the young men for showing their colors in their country – who cares what day it was – perish the thought, but some day they may have to defend those colors with their lives, and the way things are degenerating it could very well be on our own soil.

To the administration at Live Oak High School: you are not dealing with a gang issue here – or maybe it is a gang, a gang of over 310 million very proud Americans, five of whom attend Live Oak High School.

Come on now, two of the “boys” have Mexican heritage. Quit being so damn scared of an uprising. Where are your colors? This is your country also!

By the way, I am a naturalized U.S. citizen – not born in our country – and I support it proudly.

Glen Muir, proud alumni of LOHS class of ’55,

Port Angeles, WA

Fire chief: Never were eight firefighters on the one call

Dear Editor,

I would like to respond to the incorrect comments reported in Mark Derry’s column on April 30 regarding the emergency medical response that occurred at the County Clinic.  I have researched the call that was referenced in the column and want to set the record straight.

There were two calls for emergency medical assistance at this facility that came in within minutes of each other. The requests for assistance were located at different areas in the facility and were called in to 911 separately. The reporting parties for these calls described separate medical situations that pursuant to County Emergency Medical protocol require the response of the closest fire unit with paramedics (Advanced Life Support or ALS) and an Advanced Life Support ambulance provided by American Medical Response.  Because there were two separate medical emergencies, two fire units (both ALS) were dispatched along with two ambulances from AMR (both ALS). A single fire engine arrived first followed by the ambulances. When the first arriving fire unit heard over their radio of the second medical emergency at the same facility they sent part of the crew to check out the other patient. When the fire crews determined they could handle both calls with the personnel from one engine they cancelled the other engine. 

There were not four firefighters and four firefighter paramedics on this call – only one fire crew. ALS ambulances were dispatched and then transported the patients for further medical evaluation at a hospital emergency room. An ALS ambulance crew is made up of one paramedic and one emergency medical technician. The eight personnel that someone saw were a combination of the fire fighters and the ambulance crews who all responded to the facility, but for two different emergency medical events that were handled efficiently by one quick thinking fire crew and in accordance with county emergency medical response protocols. 

Dale Foster, Gilroy fire chief

Let the kids who made the bike mounds have some fun

Dear Editor,

After taking my new hybrid bike to the store for adjustments, I decided to bike the trail that runs along the Uvas Creek Levee before returning home. I parked by Wren Street, went south to the sports park/complex and back to the Santa Teresa underpass, where the trail ended. Since it was my first time and since I hadn’t taken the bike off pavement yet, I branched off on the dirt path along the creek.

Along the way I found a stretch of path that had been sculpted into mounds by apparently a group of local bikers. I happily bounced over a few of these before finding my way back to the pavement.

Upon reaching my car, a couple I’d run into said that someone had written a letter to the paper, calling these bumps and mounds vandalism. That came as a surprise, as it was a small, out of the way area, and it wasn’t hurting anything or anyone.

My advice to whoever wrote the letter: Lighten up, and let us kids have some fun. And by the way, this kid is 68.

Meade Fischer, Watsonville

Outrageous treatment of students wearing flag shirts

Dear Editor,

I cannot believe what I am reading! What a absolute outrage. The boys at Live Oak High School are told by a Mexican assistant principal to remove or turn their shirts inside out?

I am from California now living in New York for the past four years. I know there is a huge, to say the least, Latin population. And I know they are very proud of their heritage. However, these are Mexican-American students that went whining to the Mexican principal because they felt disrespected. Well, hello! These are Mexican-AMERICAN students they should be proud and thankful that they live in a free society. They are Americans as well and should understand these boys are proud to be American. 

This act by the principal suppressed their constitutional rights of freedom of expression? My husband is Mexican-American and he is in disbelief as well. Both of my parents are from France and my children not only speak Spanish but French, and I wonder what this principal would have done had they worn their tee-shirts with the French flag on it. This is AMERICA and if they don’t like it then get out! This assistant principal should be fired! 

Pattie Sanchez, New York

High-speed rail folks hire fox to watch hen house

Dear Editor,

The California High Speed Rail Authority appears head over heels in love with its newly appointed Chief Executive Officer, Roelof van Ark. In a very recent email, the CHSRA shows off the endorsements of many eleced and appointed officials touting van Ark’s abilities and wisdom.

 Only in the bottom of their email does CHRSA disclose, “Van Ark, 58, of New York, is President of Alstom Transportation Inc., the North American subsidiary of France’s Alstom SA, makers of the fastest trains in the world and builders of Europe’s TGV.”

One has to wonder if putting a train mogul in charge of a taxpayer funded rail project is any smarter than putting the fox in charge of the henhouse or the Editorial Board on the Council dais.

Ben Anderson, Gilroy