El Camino Hospital job opening
Editor:I am offering the following ad to the El Camino Hospital District Board to help in their unsuccessful five-month-long search to replace Lee Domanico:
Job Opening: CEO of El Camino Hospital, the Hospital of Silicon Valley. Total compensation approximately $1,000,000 per annum. Benefits include membership to Los Altos Country Club, generous car allowance, no-interest loan to purchase home in Hillsborough, lifetime health insurance premiums for CEO and spouse, bonuses paid on easily met criteria. Numerous opportunities for extra income by accepting stock options from hospital vendors. Compensation committee selected by CEO. Duties include dealing with $140 million cost overrun on building project started by previous CEO. Ability to shift blame and point fingers away from hospital board highly desired. El Camino Hospital is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
John Niemic
Latham Street
Clarification on Taser use
Editor:Thank your for your coverage last week and over the past several months about the city’s decision on police usage of Tasers. This is an important issue that deserves balanced and complete coverage because of the safety and health issues it touches upon.
For that reason, I would like to clarify your summary of my remarks to the city council, in which you quoted me as saying that the use of Tasers created a “risk of death that is real, but acceptable.” Taken out of context, this statement suggests that I may have placed a low value on the threats that Tasers present to a subject’s life.
This is very far from the truth. After reviewing the research and testimony presented to the Human Relations Commission, I believe that Tasers in very limited circumstances can contribute to increased risks of death when a recipient is under the influence of drugs, suffers from an existing heart condition, or due to other health-related causes. However, in most cases the facts suggest they do not result in fatal injuries. Instead, they subdue subjects without resorting to other methods of force, which can include guns.
As a result, our police force called for their use as an alternative to another risky force option — guns — in the rare situations that warranted such force to protect civilians or the police themselves. Although I originally opposed this request due to my concerns about health risks, the testimony persuaded me that the benefits of Taser use outweighed the risks so long as the police force is adequately trained in the use of Tasers and the city actively governs how the police use Tasers.
Our police put their lives on the line daily to make our homes safe, so I think we should trust them in making good judgments on how to use force to protect our community. This trust, however, should be balanced by emphasizing values that are important to our community. So, the Human Relations Commission stressed the need for the council to consider restricting how Tasers are used upon subjects of different ages and on the number of strikes the police could use in any encounter. We also stressed that the council prohibit the use of Tasers on people practicing civil disobedience, an idea with which the police and city council agreed.
Bill Bien,
Human Relations Commission
Marilyn Drive
America’s freedom is its best defense
Editor:“United 93” is a wonderful portrait of courage. But in the context of America’s current foreign policy, it comes off as a familiar bit of wound licking. Every nation has a tale of the day the world did them dirt, and “United 93” is America’s. But what’s more remarkable is that, when people abroad see the Michael Moore movie “Fahrenheit 9/11,” viewers are surprised that a person is allowed to do that in America, allowed to be so critical of a sitting president. An unintended effect, because by being so harsh, the movie ends up giving every American something to be proud of, proving to the world that America is still somewhat free.
This is why, the world being convinced that our president means to destroy Islam, no one’s come over here and blown us off the map. Face it. We’re an open society; they could do it any time they wanted. So really, it’s not the chest thumping, “These colors don’t run,” that has kept us relatively safe since 9/11. It’s that this guy out of nowhere gets to film our president’s most embarrassing moments, make it into a movie, and inspire debate. That’s why angry fanatics stay their sarin gas and their bombs. Not because we “have the terrorists on the run.” Obviously we don’t. Bush gave up trying to capture bin Laden years ago. We’re safe only because even angry people still admire something about this place.
Hope it stays that way, don’t you?
Jamie Esquire
Los Altos Hills
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