Deep gratitude to officers, neighbors

We just moved here from Arizona, and I am writing in praise of Minnesotans.

On Dec. 7, our very old dog got loose and disappeared. It was getting dark and it was cold, and our dog is an Arizona dog. We have some very kind neighbors who took Buster in and called the Orono Police Department, which picked him up.

We hadn't updated his tags from Arizona yet, and they had very little information with which to find us. Officers Steve Sturm and Jason Barnes nevertheless went above and beyond the call of duty in trying to locate Buster's owners.

They scanned him for a microchip, which also wasn't updated yet, and attempted to call the contact number there. When they couldn't reach anyone, they drove door-to-door looking for an Arizona license plate!

I cannot believe our good officers would go through so much just to reunite us with our beloved dog. I am beyond impressed with the kindness of our neighbors, but even more so with the Orono Police Department.

I think this speaks so highly of the quality of Minnesota people. A heartfelt thank-you to officers Sturm and Barnes. You are heroes in my book.

SONJA LOCKMAN, ORONO

A noble symbol of engineers' duty

Upon graduation, most Canadian engineers and at least a few U.S. engineers receive "iron rings" (now typically stainless steel) to wear on the pinky fingers of their writing hands to remind themselves that they have a responsibility to society.

The iron for the first rings came from the steel from a collapsed bridge near Quebec City.

I wholeheartedly recommend that Minnesota, or at least the University of Minnesota, embrace the iron-ring concept and put the steel from the fallen Interstate 35W to a noble use.

NEIL CROCKER, EDEN PRAIRIE

Climate science silences the outliers

The speed of spin control on "Climategate" is dizzying.

The math professor who says math does not lie forgets that putting in wrong numbers leads to wrong answers. Over the last decade, carbon dioxide continues to climb but temperatures have dropped.

The EPA rules that greenhouse gases pose a health risk. And this is the group that calls carbon dioxide a pollutant, even though it is 5 percent of every breath we exhale.

In Colorado, aspens are growing 53 percent faster -- please remember that all life on Earth is dependent on photosynthesis in which water and carbon dioxide are transformed into sugar by green plants.

And a letter writer says peer review keeps scientists in line.

That is true, but the line is the party line.

There is a powerful herd instinct in science, and outliers are culled. Read Jerry Bergman's book, "Slaughter of the Dissidents," if you doubt it.

ROSS S. OLSON, MINNEAPOLIS

Disservice to truth

The Star Tribune article of Dec. 8 quoting one particular source saying we are coming to the end of the warmest decade in history failed to mention data contradicting global warming, of which there is an abundance.

Such as the report 1 1/2 years ago by the United Nations World Meteorological Organization that stated there has been no warming since 1998, and subsequent reports showing the Earth has actually cooled in the past three years.

Besides, there is nothing even approaching proof that the slight warming up to 1998 was the result of man's CO2 emissions. There is even evidence that over the preceding hundreds of years a rise in CO2 always followed a rise in temperature and did not lead it.

The argument has become political and self-serving, and newspapers like the Star Tribune do no service to enlightenment and truth by continuing to trumpet the alarmist, and unproven, side of global warming.

JIM HOWARD, WAYZATA

Jim Howard, Wayzata

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As a former Minnetonka school board member, I'm writing to applaud the recent decision by the Minnetonka City Council to deny the Minnetonka School District's request to add 61 spaces for student parking on the west side of the high school.

This decision follows on the heels of the council's earlier decision to deny the district's request to expand a parking lot by 102 spaces. Apparently, the board and administration thought that by reducing the number of parking spaces they were being responsive to the council's concerns.

Sadly, they just don't get it. The message was sent but not received. The lights are on, but nobody's home.

According to the news reports, the message the council was sending is best stated by Council Member Bob Ellingson, who said, "If you take a more comprehensive look at how we can maybe reduce automobile use, maybe that would reduce the need for parking."

Rather than doing that, the district continues to view the issue as one of student safety.

Paul Bourgeois, the district's executive director of finance and operations, said the district's concern is this: "We do have a considerable number of students who park along the frontage road along Hwy. 7 and walk to school."

I agree. From that perspective, the issue is one of safety. But that's not the only perspective, as evidenced by the council's decision.

The more comprehensive and, in my view, more important, perspective is for the district leadership to think smarter and to better utilize its existing resources. One such resource is the bus service that all district taxpayers underwrite.

I would encourage Mr. Bourgeois to click on the "Transportation" tab on the district's website, where he will find this statement: "Because the school bus is the safest way to get to and from school, all families are strongly encouraged to register for bus service."

If the district followed the advice it dispenses to its stakeholders and perhaps even encouraged additional bus use, not a single new parking space would be needed, thus saving precious budget dollars. Not one tree would be destroyed, and the district would keep its commitments to neighbors to not expand the campus.

To be sure, if the district followed its own advice, students would no longer put themselves in harm's way along the Hwy. 7 frontage road.

Best of all, the district will provide a teachable moment in critical thinking for the next generation of decision-makers on how to wisely use available resources, preserve the environment, be a steward of the taxpayer's money and truly listen to the community.

PERRY SCHWARTZ

MINNETONKA

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Today, more than ever, I am reminded of the story of the Little Red Hen, recorded by Joseph Jacobs -- a cute and wonderful little story about a single parent struggling to care for her family.

In the story, she, by chance, happens to find some grains of wheat. Being a forward thinker, she starts a little business of her own. It's a lot of hard work, but she is willing to share with anyone willing to help. She asks for help from the Duck, the Cat, the Dog and the Cow, but no one is willing to help. At each stage of her labor of love she again seeks the needed help -- she pleads for each of her friends and neighbors to assist, but to no avail. No one is willing to extend the slightest effort.

Finally, having succeeded against all odds, she harvests, grinds the wheat into flour, and bakes her loaf of bread. Again, with no help from her neighbors. Now, the sweet aroma from the baking loaf must have attracted the attention of everyone, because, once again, she seeks help in eating the loaf. After all, because of her efforts she now has an abundance and to spare. Everyone jumps to the ready, "Oh yes," say the Duck, the Cat the Dog and the Cow. Everyone wants to eat the bread, which takes no work at all. And it smells so good.

They all want to reap the benefits of the labors of the Little Red Hen.

However, because no one else was willing to do the work needed to create the abundance of sweet-tasting bread, they were denied the rewards of her labors.

What if the story had been written in our time? If Joseph Jacobs (a moral and fair-minded man) had recorded the story in our day? What might the ending be?

Might he have included a final stanza where the government steps in declaring the utter selfishness of the Little Red Hen? Might the government take the bread away from the Little Red Hen and divide it among the Duck, the Cat, Dog and Cow?

In this light, the entire story of, and the moral value behind, the Little Red Hen unravels. The hero of the story, the Little Red Hen, becomes an immoral and selfish villain. Good becomes bad, and bad becomes good, where even our time-honored children's stories of true moral value must be rewritten to fit what is artificially declared "politically correct."

VAR ST. JEOR

EXCELSIOR