Letters

Dear Editor,

Amid all the small business failures and bankruptcies, worse

Want to sit in a five-mile backup on Friday night?

I have read the response and questions presented by Mr. Kevin Doherty. I have also been in health care for well over 20 years. I  have worked in hospitals all over California, across the country, and in the private sector as well. Mr. Doherty is correct in his observations and the roles of governing agencies at the state and federal levels. It is their job to find where there is improvement to grow and to be sure that the hospitals are functioning at the levels that have been sent forth by them. Every hospital that I have worked at has stories of great work for their community and their patients. The scene of lives being saved and making people comfortable happen at all of them. There are so many unsung heroes in every hospital, at so many different levels.

The front page article about the Humane Society of the Central Coast might lead one to believe that there is a huge void in San Benito County for no-kill animal shelters. San Benito County and the Central Coast, in general, have a large number of nonprofit rescues and no-kill shelters, including but not limited to the local 501(c)(3) organizations, Pet Friends & Rescue, All Creatures Great and Small, SHARE Animal Rescue, and Bad Dawgs Rescue. The Central Coast is also supported by the Monterey and Santa Cruz SPCA organizations.

When you have something as important as this CaHSRA Meeting Agenda Item No. 3, we would be better off giving months' advance notice to the public, putting the whole proposal through some legal procedure like the creation of regulations in the Administrative Procedures Act, where proposals get months and months for review and analysis. Instead, we have unelected, unaccountable (not subject to voter recall) joint power authorities making these public-sector, taxpayers-can-pay-for-it proposals. The Brown Act is the wrong standard for prudent consideration of public policy decisions. They are getting away with murder of the taxpayers by merely "complying" (sometimes yes, sometimes no) with the Brown Act's brief requirements.

Editor,

Your story about Jaime De La Cruz (Free Lance Sept., 11, 2004)

I find it rather strange that it took over a week to print my

Editor,