Netlets for Monday, Dec. 24

I have seen "Twenty Days in August," a professionally produced video about the Interstate 35W bridge collapse.

Where the Star Tribune smells politics -- after all, Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek is an evil Republican -- the rest of us see a valuable tool that will benefit emergency personnel in Minnesota and all across America.

Sheriff Stanek and every single emergency responder at the bridge collapse performed superbly and it is wonderful that people everywhere can see how major incidents should and must be responded to.

DON GUDMUNDSON, LAKEVILLE; DAKOTA COUNTY SHERIFF

Dangerous infrastructure is a very old problem Regarding the Dec. 16 article "This bridge can't wait": The current leadership at the Minnesota Department of Transportation may play its part in the continuing saga, but the problems with our infrastructure are decades old and started long before the current governor and his administration arrived on the scene.

How dare the very people who have ignored our needs for so many years continue to play politics with American lives.

AL SCHAFER, TONKA BAY

I guess Christmas isn't for kids anymore; it's to see how to get the public to shop while waiting for their appointment time. And we all know how fun it is to shop for hours with kids. Bah! Humbug!

LENORE DAVIS, OSAKIS, MINN.

Defining the public square Kudos to Charles Krauthammer. It's refreshing to see someone who's usually so conservative take strong stand for the principle of separation of church and state, as he did in his Dec. 19 column ("Religion has a public role, to a point, which we've crossed").

My only quibble is that we need to clarify what we mean by "the public square" as in "religion is being driven out of...". Anyone can get up on a soapbox in the public square and deliver a sermon, or sing a song or carry a sign with a religious message. Or you can write a letter to the editor, or rent a billboard, or put up a religious display in front of your house or church. Private businesses can put up whatever religious displays they like, and if most prefer not to, it's not due to heavy-handed secularist forces, but the invisible hand of the marketplace.

It's only permanent fixtures promoting religion on government property that are considered to violate the Constitution's Establishment Clause. You might say that you can express your religion in the public square, but not with the public square.

Why the environment merits a constitutional amendment I am glad that I waited to respond to Lori Sturdevant's Dec. 8 column outlining her rationale against an amendment to change the Constitution in support of dedicated funding for conservation (and cultural amenities). The Dec. 15 Counterpoint by Sen. Ellen Anderson ("The most feasible way to fund environment") is the perfect answer.

Many, many activists in the conservation community have struggled over this issue for years. No one has wanted to pursue such a solution, as it will take money, time and effort that we all want to put in to more direct work for our state. But the time has come.

Governors of all three parties, legislatures and leaders from the parties, and strong lobbies for the core functions of state government have put aside the important support for protection of the natural resource base for too many years. We cannot wait any longer. They also failed to adequately support conservation when the fiscal resources were there and of course, we took the big cuts when the resources diminished.

I am happy to put strong support for parks and trails into the proposal. Our collective health depends on utilizing the outdoors. I am happy to support the cultural and historic resources too, as they enhance the natural resources, especially out of urban areas.

Anderson ends by saying that the protection of these treasures may not be a necessity to life in our state but can you imagine a Minnesota without high quality natural resources? In this our 150th year we will need to show why we live here, not how we can spend only 1 percent of our budget on the stuff that makes us stay Minnesotans.