Pubdate: Sat, 06 Jan 2001
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2001 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, CA 95190
Fax: (408) 271-3792
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Forum: http://forums.bayarea.com/webx/cgi-bin/WebX
Author: Michael Hyatt
Note:  Joanne Jacobs, whose cogent comments on the drug war have appeared 
regularly in the San Jose Mercury News and other papers around the country, 
has gone out on her own.  You can keep up with her at her new website 
http://www.readjacobs.com.

JACOBS' LEAVING IS VALLEY'S LOSS

MY thanks go to departed Mercury News columnist Joanne Jacobs (Opinion, 
Jan. 4) for her profound contribution to the quality of culture in Silicon 
Valley.

In a world where debate is increasingly defined by marketing slogans and 
``sound bites,'' where  our new president has a deep and abiding lack of 
understanding of English grammar, her thoughtful and reasoned discourse 
always provided a basis for discussion. With the length of an American's 
attention span following some demented inverse Moore's Law, her patient and 
careful analysis of a given issue was something for which I was always 
thankful. While I didn't always agree with her (more often than not, 
however, I did), I found that she had the capacity to cause me to 
re-evaluate my beliefs and positions, and that's about the most an Op-Ed 
pundit can hope for.

In particular, I want to thank Jacobs for her firm and non-wavering support 
for substance abuse treatment rather than incarceration and for her strong 
pieces on the folly and futility of the ``drug war.'' Indeed, in matters of 
law enforcement and substance abuse, her courageous columns made a real 
difference in the community.

While I am pleased that Jacobs has chosen to pursue her dreams and follow 
her muse, I am deeply sorry to see her go. Our neighborhoods, I fear, will 
be poorer for it.

Good luck and all the best in all her future endeavors.

Michael Hyatt, Los Gatos
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