Any school would upset resident

A previous letter writer to The Acorn asked, "Would the residents of Old Agoura feel the same way about Heschel if it was a Christian school?"

Although half the families in Old Agoura are Jewish, I would turn that question around and ask if Heschel was a fundamentalist Christian school, would the taxpayers of Agoura be expected to pay for it?

Heschel's own website proclaims: "Heschel School is dedicated to the development of students with a lifelong commitment to Judaism. Judaic studies teachers and Hebrew language specialists provide our students with a well-balanced Jewish education."

Heschel demands that our city pay a large portion of the massive costs of traffic and other mitigation for a school that is clearly a religiously based enterprise. With the widening of the bridge at Palo Comado, possible land acquisition and additional traffic signals, I would guesstimate the costs to be a minimum of $12 million.

Would a fundamentalist Christian school get a free pass from the L.A. County Board of Supervisors and would our City Council be bullied into paying what amounts to reparations to the socalled broader community?

James Madison said, "An alliance or coalition between government and religion cannot be too carefully guarded against. Every new and successful example therefore of a perfect separation between ecclesiastical and civil matters is of importance. Religion and government will exist in greater purity without, rather than with, the aid of government."

For all the reasons I have enumerated in past letters- encroachment on residences, destruction of habitat, traffic, fire danger, etc.- I oppose any school in that location, but if our City Council is too cowardly to stop Heschel, for the love of God don't ask me to pay for it. Larry Brown Agoura Hills