Dear Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: I am writing to jog your rather foggy memory concerning an event in American history from more than 100 years ago. I am referring to the bubonic plague epidemic in California in the early 1900s. This is a disease that was brought to our shores by ships carrying infected rats and their attendant fleas. Despite efforts by those in the medical community to contain the spread of the plague, politics intervened. What resulted was much dithering, finger-pointing and wasted time. The bubonic plague then jumped species to the ground squirrel. Today, plague is present in some rodent populations in the American Southwest.

Dearest CDC, have you read Marilyn Chase's "The Barbary Plague: The Black Death in Victorian San Francisco"? It is an excellent primer on how to allow an epidemic to spread. Reports theorize that Ebola is present in some animal populations in Africa and was transmitted to humans. The dog of an Ebola-infected nurse in Spain was euthanized. Mass hysteria? It is not so far-fetched to think the dog could have been infected. Infected human kisses dog, infected dog bites squirrel, and now the disease is possibly spread into the wild animal population.

We don't know the science of all of this yet, so caution needs to prevail when protecting the health of our citizens. An Oct. 9 letter writer, a physician, wrote that a quarantine needs to be instituted for all travelers from at-risk areas. I agree.

Tonia Harvester, Hopkins

• • •

The doctor writing Oct. 9 says that the United States should quarantine for 21 days all people entering the country from any area with documented Ebola cases. I concur that there might be more to be done than readying hospitals to deal with Ebola here. But I question the assumption that this step will keep us safe.

Three weeks is a long time for incubation. What about people who travel from areas with an Ebola outbreak to some other country, then enter the United States in those three weeks? Nothing in the doctor's proposed solution would stop them from spreading the disease into the United States.

Since Spain has now had a documented Ebola case, do we quarantine people coming from there or through there? And with the United States now having a documented Ebola case and death, are Americans traveling to other countries willing to be quarantined for 21 days should those other countries choose to adopt this kind of quarantine?

Mary Brady, Columbia Heights
ABORTION

No, it's not a positive force in women's lives

In the Oct. 8 Q&A article "Wading into the abortion debate," author Katha Pollitt argues that abortion is a basic — indeed, positive — aspect in women's lives. No, it's not. The notion that abortion will ensure equal rights and equal treatment for women is nothing but a tragic lie. Pollitt apparently never interviewed the millions of women whose lives have been forever scarred by abortion. Small wonder that there are so many cases of child abuse, when we consider our children as personal property — to be disposed of as we see fit.

Justice for women can never be accomplished by abortion, any more than war will bring world peace. Using any form of violence only creates more of the same. There are so many constructive, positive solutions out there at our disposal; all we have to do is seek them out.

Kay Kemper, Crystal
HENNEPIN SHERIFF'S RACE

Stanek's re-election would be well-earned

I want to register my support for Rich Stanek for re-election as Hennepin County sheriff.

Not only has Stanek run the department with honor, integrity and success, but he also has been a voice in the community about the heroin and pain-pill epidemic in the county. He has held five community meetings raising the awareness of this dangerous problem.

He has also been the driving force behind a new communications center that will open in Plymouth in the next two to three months. According to U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony last week, it is a state-of-the-art public safety facility.

Stanek represents our county in various ways; for instance, he is president of the Major County Sheriffs' Association. It speaks well of him that his colleagues across the country recognize his skills, leadership ability and dedication to law enforcement.

Stanek has built accountability with the community with the establishment of the Sheriff's Office Community Advisory Board and has reached out to all the various ethnic groups in Hennepin County. Violent crime in the county is down 36 percent since he took office. He has led the charge to change legislation locally and nationwide.

Paul Bierhaus, Plymouth

The writer is retired from law enforcement.

AT&T'S BOGUS CHARGES

It would appear that it was worth the risk

The Oct. 9 Star Tribune states that AT&T Mobility, a subsidiary of AT&T, was accused by the government of unlawfully billing customers for "hundreds of millions of dollars in bogus charges." According to the article, the Federal Trade Commission said that "AT&T kept at least 35 percent of the unauthorized charges."

The FTC settled the matter with AT&T for $105 million.

Who said crime doesn't pay?

Melvin Ogurak, Edina
APPETITE FOR ZOMBIES

Some of us eat while we read, you know

You ruined my lunch! (I often read the Star Tribune while eating lunch.) If I want to see gore ("Abracadaver!" Oct. 9 Variety section), I will go to a horror show.

Jill Thomas, Plymouth