Breast cancer is a disease that one of eight American women is diagnosed with in their lifetime and that is diagnosed one woman in the U.S. every three minutes. This cause is near and dear to many members of our community. One group of 13 women has joined forces to fight breast cancer by participating in the upcoming Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in San Francisco July 12-13. We belong to the Poppy Jaspers, a team that has raised nearly $20,000 for our event so far; we have been fundraising and training to walk 39.3 miles over two days, with two of our team members serving on the crew, a hardworking bunch who put in long hours to support the walkers at the event. In the fall, a booth at the Taste of Morgan Hill was our first group effort to raise awareness and funds for our cause. Since then, we've held a fundraising event at our local bookstore and a holiday boutique, and team members have knit and sold scarves, washed cars, baby-sat, held a yard sale and taken portraits, among other successful efforts.
Tomorrow we will be raffling off a quilt that was handmade by a teammember at 4 p.m. at BookSmart on Second Street in Morgan Hill. Raffle tickets are available at BookSmart before the event.
Over the course of the past year, we have appreciated the support of the following area businesses: BookSmart, GoRun, NAPA Auto Parts, Michelle Getty of Pampered Chef, Jeanne Lee of Arbonne International, Paula Scotney-Castle of Discovery Toys, Jennifer Cavanaugh of Tastefully Simple, Kim Musick and Beth Rodrigues of Cookie Lee Jewelry, Margie Rhodes-Ousley of Weekenders, Marilyn Youngman of PartyLite, Olga Simpkin of MaryKay, Becky Shingai, Morgan Hill's FedEx/Kinko's store, and Morgan Hill United Methodist Church. If you have not yet donated towards the fight against cancer, please consider supporting our team's fundraising campaign by donating, either online at www.avonwalk.org or by check (ask any of our team members for donation coupons). Please buy quilt raffle tickets and join us at our final group event at BookSmart tomorrow afternoon.
Marji McMillan, Morgan Hill
No Santa Teresa Boulevard expansion
Dear Editor,
I read in Friday's paper about the planned extension of Santa Teresa Boulevard. I cannot imagine any reason for this project. Why would anyone want to have four major thoroughfares (Highway 101, Monterey Road, Butterfield Boulevard and Santa Teresa Boulevard) through a geographically small town? We need to preserve the residential character of our town, not see how many high-speed thoroughfares we can create. We should be encouraging people to use the freeway when they want to get through town quickly. There is no need for another thoroughfare. The ones that we have are not overcrowded.
If you look at other towns of similar size that are considered desirable, you will not find four major thoroughfares slicing them up. If we want people to see that we have viable business downtown, we need to encourage people to drive there, not bypass the business district. The only thing that an extension of Santa Teresa will do is allow people to drive faster through Morgan Hill. None of these people are going to stop and do any business. Do we really want another high-speed thoroughfare for people who will not bring any benefit to our town?
Nancie Barker, Morgan Hill
Eco health benefits from grass
Dear Editor,
With all of the population growth and demand for water in our communities, it's important to understand how forgiving many of the new turf grasses are in their need for irrigation waters. We don't need to water landscapes as much as we usually do. It's also interesting to understand some of the benefits these small grass plants play in our eco-system.
A 2,500-square-foot of lawn converts enough carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to provide enough oxygen for a family of four daily. Who couldn't use better air quality?
Turf areas provide a great ability to sequester carbon as well as cool our environment. With our URBAN warming problems, shouldn't we do the best job possible by naturally providing a cooling effect in balance to the great amount of concrete, asphalt and roof lines we have built?
The front lawns of eight homes have the cooling effect of 70 tons of air conditioning; the average home's air conditioner has only a three- or four-ton capacity and takes lots of electricity to power it.
Turf cools the environment. On a typical hot summer day natural turf is approximately 78 to 88 degrees Fahrenheit, where concrete or artificial turf is about 117 - 157 degrees Fahrenheit. These higher temperatures have a great effect on home cooling, energy consumption, water use and the family's use of the home. A lawn adds to the beauty and functionality of your surroundings and home in a profound and positive way.
The psychologically calming effect has long been noted for lawns and their inherent ability to create tranquility. These are some of the reasons we have turf around our hospitals and business parks. With our frantic lifestyles, who couldn't use a little of that! Tranquility now!
Fire protection and erosion control: Give your home 30 feet of protection! With the recent Loma Prieta fire and last year's Henry Coe fire, we would all do better, save a lifetime's work and lower our insurance costs by giving the heroes, our fire departments, a little help by giving them a defensible area around our homes. Additionally a healthy, sodded lawn absorbs rainfall six times more effectively than a wheat field and four times better than a hay field - grasses capture, clean and reduce soil loss when used in our environment - Nature's way of cleaning the Earth that surrounds us.
One acre of grass produces more oxygen per year than one acre of rainforest. Wow!
So, for those who prefer to enjoy the benefits of having a lawn or those who wish to do something altogether different, we applaud you for bringing a little enjoyment to the places you call home and allowing the beauty of nature to abound.
Erin Gil, Morgan Hill
Grass Farm, second generation farmer
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Behind the brews: the origin and making of El Toro beers
