Netlets for Saturday, Feb. 9

With the occurrence of tuberculosis in three beef herds in an isolated area of extreme northern Minnesota (near Skime, Minn.), both this vast northern range and beef production in our state are in jeopardy.

From central Minnesota northward there exists a vast northern range of beef cattle. These cattle are produced in a very natural/organic environment as their primary food is grass and hay. There are thousands of farm families whose livelihood is dependent upon this beef enterprise.

Were we to have one more outbreak of tuberculosis, our state would have to round up all feeder calves, test them, and two weeks later round them all up again to further test them. The time, logistics, stress, and cost would be overwhelming. The many registered beef producers currently the best in the Midwest, would be relegated to a diminished status.

It is therefore vital that the state of Minnesota take an immediate proactive stance. The obvious course would be to buy out all the beef farmers in the area of the tuberculosis outbreak. This could be worked out by cash buyouts or an extended plan to restock the ranchers at a later date and to thoroughly cull the deer herd over an extremely large portion of Minnesota where their re-infecting potential exists.

Think of the economic collapse and consequences if we fail to act swiftly.

RICHARD MOEN, CLEARBROOK, MINN.

Pro sports exemplify the worst in America Another Super Bowl is over. In the course of our addiction to professional sports, we were subjected to advertisements that asked us to drink artificial water, to buy vehicles that still consume lots of gasoline, to eat foods that are bad for our health. Worst of all, the content of these ads was mostly violent in nature, including a kick to the groin.

No wonder radical Islamists think we are sick; we are! The Christians and secularists need to come out of their addictions to help fix America where it counts the most. Let's get America back on track, with truth in everything we do, from religion to sports to business. Our politicians set the worst example: They put their finger in the wind, go with the flow, forget standing on principles.

ARTHUR E. HIGINBOTHAM, MINNEAPOLIS

Why not do a real survey of sports fans? Regarding the Feb. 2 Counterpoint "A stadium won't create new wealth": I'm one of the people who goes to the stadium, the Target Center, the Xcel Energy Center. I am on the road from West Central Minnesota a number of times each year to watch the pro teams play and I see many cars on the road coming and going to those events. Maybe the Star Tribune or some of the sports teams should conduct their own poll and test the theory about "spending our entertainment dollars elsewhere."

If the Vikings weren't here, on a Sunday, my guess is there wouldn't be countless cars heading down to the Twin Cities for a day. The day consists of gas, food on the way, possibly a tailgating party, for some a room and a night out on Saturday. If the Vikings were not playing on Sunday, I would watch football at home on TV, spend time with family. I would not drive to the Cities to shop, take in a show, or anything else that involves the same dollars being spent. No full tank of gas, no money spent on parking, no souvenirs or concessions -- a trip involving two people to a Viking game from outstate Minnesota costs a minimum of $300.

My guess is there are a few hundred people on just the Vikings season ticket list alone who drive over 100 miles to a game. These are hard-core fans and most of us do not just spend $300 on a Sunday for "entertainment." Movies cost $30 tops, if we stay home and watch the game, the amount of food and beverages consumed is a lot less, especially in the cost part.

I don't believe in general revenue funding for stadiums, but if a way gets found for funding one through user fees, parking taxes, or a designated tax (where if we want to help pay for a stadium, we participate in the taxed activity), I will support it. I don't want to lose any of our pro teams -- we may never get another one, and if we do, we will have to spend our tax dollars like we did to get pro hockey back.

Someone, please do a survey of our sports fans and see what we really do with our entertainment dollars.

PRYCE SCORE, KENSINGTON, MINN.

Tales from the road to the caucus Living a six-minute car drive south of our referred-to caucus site, Eden Prairie High School, my wife and I left for our first Minnesota caucus opportunity at 6:30 Tuesday evening. Realizing that bumper to bumper traffic on northbound Eden Prairie Road was not moving through green lights, we did a U-turn first chance and tried to approach the school via Valley View Road from the east. No dice, that street, too, was backed-up at least a mile to the east of Eden Prairie Road. We did another U-turn and headed home. Crossing over Hwy. 5 on the way, we again noticed bumper-to-bumper taillights to the west, as cars tried to exit the highway to Eden Prairie Road and the high school.

If my wife and I were voting to oust an absolute despot it would have made us raving, screaming mad -- of course, if that were actually the case, we would have stayed in the backed-up car queue until our petrol ran out and then walked the rest of the way. But this is America, and George W. Bush won't be staying in power no matter what, so, we're just glad Barack Obama should get the electoral votes he deserves.

One thing for sure, we never had this problem in the state we moved from where they had real primaries and a person could show-up to vote anytime of the day. Boy! Does Minnesota need a real primary!

DON DARNELL, EDEN PRAIRIE

Plenty of room to caucus -- and live -- outside the Twin Cities I'm sorry to hear that voters were at swamped caucuses in the Twin Cities. There is still room to caucus in Big Stone County and many other rural counties and to, as the Feb. 7 article says, enjoy the "pure expression of direct democracy."

Our county has a lot to offer to people. In addition to the wide-open spaces to caucus, the Clinton-Beardsley-Graceville school is among the top 10 percent in the state in preparing kids for college according to a recent University of Minnesota, and is one of the most important prairie/wetland stepping stone for migratory waterfowl across the continent.

It seems that some of our urban congestion could be eased if those who were interested in a rural lifestyle had the opportunities to live out that dream in greater Minnesota. That could be realized through locating new state programs outside the Twin Cites, as resolved by the Minnesota Rural Health Association, increasing opportunities to telecommute, or any number of creative ideas. So remember that there is still plenty of room in Minnesota, but maybe we don't all have to squeeze together in the Cities.