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Schools must prepare
students for phone limit
Re: “Schools must limit student smartphone use by 2026” (Page B2, Sept. 24).
While I understand the controversy and skepticism with this new law, I strongly encourage parents to collectively support our schools and advocate for these restrictions.
We must educate our children and teenagers on the responsibilities of smartphone use and the mental health dangers it imposes on them.
Although awareness and usage limitations should start in the home, we have a social responsibility to protect the overall well-being of young students in our communities.
This is an opportunity for parents to come together with their school administrations to curate a restriction plan that is feasible for both families and teachers.
As stakeholders in our students’ education, we must understand the serious complications overexposure to smartphone devices and social media causes on our young people’s minds.
I hope the school administrations will build education awareness for parents and students as the first step in their restriction plans.
Michaela Gonzales
San Jose
Natural burials would
preserve Coyote Valley
Re: “Despite need cemetery opponents unite” (Page B1, Sept. 26).
Why not make this proposed site a natural burial ground?
The deceased is washed, wrapped in clean cloth and placed in the ground in a natural setting to return to the Earth as nature intended. A small plaque marks the grave. No embalming, no sealing the body in an air-tight casket so it can rot slowly, no vast lawn to water, mow and maintain, and no crematorium to pollute the air with noxious fumes from the furnace.
Of course, this would mean no big bucks for the funeral industry, but this vast swath of land in the Coyote Valley would stay the same as it is today.
Lona Ingraham
Santa Clara
Cellular firms must
harden their networks
Re: “Bay Area emergency services, businesses proceed as usual despite Verizon outage” (Page B4, Oct. 1).
Again today we saw a critical infrastructure fail. My phone was dead from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., meaning no 911 calls could be made. And I’m sure the economic impact, although not yet known, could be astronomical.
But this is not what concerns me. What scares the hell out of me is what will happen when the next big earthquake happens and the towers fall and the power fails. This could mean that phone service could be off for weeks or months. But we have no idea what Verizon has done.
Our phone and internet service providers need to be required to harden their infrastructure against the worst possible earthquake and fire scenarios. They need to be fully transparent. They need to test their networks before the big one.
Jim Koren
Cupertino
Equitable economy key
to homelessness fight
Re: “California goes to war against campers and encampments” (Page A7, Sept. 27).
Joe Mathews criticizes politicians for working to shut down homeless camps. Ironically, it is loud criticism in the press over the last several years, building to a crescendo during the election season, that has politicians desperate to get the problem out of sight.
The catch-22: Nobody wants to deal with the filth and crime, yet nobody with a heart wants others to suffer due to the high cost of housing. Further, nobody wants to pay higher taxes to build and maintain low-cost public housing, nor wants such housing in their neighborhoods.
We ordinary folks who work, pay taxes and have a place to live are not the problem here. Extreme wealth and high-level corporate salaries, along with resistance among the wealthy to paying their fair share of taxes for a healthy, humane society, have created this mess.
Only a reordering of our economy toward greater equality will solve the problem.
Will Beatty
San Jose
Citizens must demand
end to fentanyl death toll
More than 73,000 people died from fentanyl in 2022. In an age of AI, drones, detection gadgets and the greatest military in the world cannot stop this.
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Fentanyl is our Gaza, Lebanon and Ukraine. Don’t let drug mules kill us.
I call upon every citizen of this great country to rise and demand that our federal and state governments stop this daily carnage. We must harness our military, technology, border policing, public health education, international diplomacy and abundant resources to make this our national priority.
We must flood our legislators and businesspeople with letters and calls to act immediately.
Ultimately, our national elections are at hand, and Kamala Harris and Donald Trump must address this crisis.
The ball is in our court. Do something.
Kohli Singh
San Jose
