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Pepples campaign sign removal issue lays with the city manager 

Editor: 

On October 3, the Berkeley Daily Planet printed a letter from Eleanor Pepples, candidate for City Council.  

Ms. Pepples complained about the removal of her campaign signs by an employee of the city’s Department of Public Works. She stated that this City employee “triumphantly presented them to the Berkeley City Clerk’s office, boasting that he had taken down a truckload…”  

These events may have happened as described, and there may or may not have been some legitimate reason for the sign removal. I myself have no idea what happened, but I am at a complete loss as to why Ms. Pepples brought me into this matter by describing the city employee as a “representative of the mayor’s administration”.  

Since Ms. Pepples is new to Berkeley, she may not know that Berkeley has a city manager/council form of government and that city employees work directly for the city manager. They neither report to nor take directions from the Mayor or any other elected official. Ms. Pepples may also not be familiar with the rules governing the posting of signs. 

If Ms. Pepples seeks clarification of the events she described in her letter, I would suggest that she contact the city manager directly. She might also clarify, with the city clerk, the rules regarding the posting of signs on telephone poles.  

In my experience, it is preferable to place campaign signs only in the windows and yards of supporters since sign placement on private property offers the greatest chance of sign survival and is much more persuasive with voters. 

Mayor Shirley Dean 

Gov. Bush wrong on  

measuring Head Start success by reading skills 

Editor:  

Gov. George W.Bush stated in Wednesday night’s debate that he would have pre-schoolers, in the Head Start programs, read. As if that’s the measure of success at that level of education!  

Since the 1960s Head Start teachers and administrators of these programs have found that art, music, dance, physical education, dramatics, having hands-on training with cooking, nature study, field trips, science experiments, gardening, story-telling, poetry read or acted out by peers/actors, will continue to activate and stimulate curious minds to have the readiness to learn to read all in  

due time.  

The finest educators, school psychologists, doctors who know the human brain, eye-hand coordination, test results from public-private schools from pre-school through post-doctorate degrees have shown that these very children cannot nor should not read before they are chronologically & developmentally ready.  

Bush’s information in this area is totally non-existent or he has been grossly misinformed.  

Bush came across as the man to whom we should trust all decisions: military, social security, health care, education.  

He continued to call Mr. Gore’s statistics: “fuzzy”. Mr. Gore’s intelligent comments were factual, to the point and well-delivered.  

The woman’s right to choose what is to be done with her body & vice-president Gore’s commitment to uphold Roe vs. Wade should give any unsure voters the reason to vote Democratic this election.  

I am both a retired elementary school teacher and school librarian for K-12.  

Sylvia P. Scherzer 

Emeryville