Readers Write: Animal trapping, nitrates and wells, teaching, food production, wages and inflation

The Dec. 31 article "Once hooked, trapper stayed on track," about the new president of the Minnesota Trappers Association, was disturbing and unbalanced. There was no mention of the pain and suffering inflicted on animals who get caught in traps. Their faces, legs or torsos get caught, resulting in smashed bones and massive wounds. With a snare trap, they can suffocate. Further injuries occur when they try to get loose. Freezing to death can be a blessing. Animal species are trapped indiscriminately. A photo accompanying the article showed the smiling trapper displaying a variety of dead creatures. Animals feel pain like humans do. Consider having a hand, finger, leg or face caught in a car door slamming shut. There's no need to randomly kill animals in such a cruel fashion. Nor is there a need in the world for fur. That time is past. Synthetic materials work fine.

The Dec. 31 article "State tests find a well of suspicion," about a proposed township well testing program in Brown County, misses the point.

Citizens of Minnesota expect their state agencies to be honest and forthright about what they are promoting and telling the public. They also expect agencies to use the highest quality of university-level, peer-reviewed research for support of any rules and regulations. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) and sister agencies have failed in this regard relative to the well testing programs they are promoting, and which Brown County turned down. Unfortunately, the Star Tribune had a good opportunity to hold the MDA accountable but failed to do so.

The proposed MDA nitrogen rule is black-and-white regarding the use of township well testing to trigger nitrogen fertilizer regulations. It is shamefully deceitful for the MDA or anyone else to suggest otherwise.

Nitrates in domestic wells are not an indicator of aquifer water quality and should not be used for this. It is well-established that all wells deteriorate over time and are subject to site-specific contamination. There are numerous studies and data that document this point.

The state of Nebraska has long understood this issue and only uses properly constructed, dedicated monitoring wells as part of its nitrogen fertilizer rule. It is doubtful that the processes of nature are different in Nebraska compared with Minnesota, and therefore Minnesota should only use dedicated monitoring wells. Many scientists and agricultural organizations have been pointing this out for years.

The MDA and other state agencies need to stop deceiving the public by implying that there is a relationship between high nitrates in domestic wells and nitrogen fertilizer use. Agency employees have been asked many times to supply the peer-reviewed university research they claim exists, but have not done so. It is time they are held accountable for their sham. The media and the public should demand that agency employees supply the research now, if it exists!

I am proud to be a teacher in the midst of my 24th year of educating students. I was not surprised to read (Dec. 31) that all 50 states started the year short on teachers, and not just in hard-to-staff areas like science, math and special education, but also in other areas that haven't had shortages before, like kindergarten.

Currently the Minnesota Department of Education lists 31 areas of shortage within our public schools. An earlier article ("More teachers calling it quits," Feb. 3, 2017) highlighted how 25 percent of new teachers leave the profession within three years.

Minnesota's reaction to its growing shortage was to make it easier to become a teacher by lowering the bar to get a license. Some teacher areas no longer require a bachelor's degree, and the new tiered license system makes it possible to become a teacher without ever getting a teaching certificate.

We are short doctors, nurses and dentists, but you don't hear politicians talking about how to lower standards to make it possible to become a doctor without ever going to medical school or having a license to practice medicine.

We could solve this problem like we do all things in a capitalistic society: improve pay, benefits and working conditions in order to give a greater incentive for becoming a teacher, and/or lower the cost of college so people can afford to get a teaching certificate (instead of making it possible to get a license without one).

I enjoyed the Dec. 17-20 series on food trends, and want to thank Kristen Leigh Painter for her research and careful writing. It is interesting to consider the origins of this change in consumer preferences. Education has been key, I believe, from the nonprofit community, grocery stores and farmers themselves.

Back in the early '90s, two food co-ops, the Wedge and the Mississippi Market, asked me to take on an education project for children that centered on sustainable agriculture and healthy local food. We began bringing the ideas of soil health and environmentally friendly shopping to elementary classrooms way back then, and continue to reach thousands of children every year. Other educational organizations, such as Farm in the City and Youth Farm, and the Urban Design Center (now Urban Roots), joined us. Now those young ones are grown, teaching their own children, and demanding healthful and responsible choices from many retailers. It is exciting to see, 20 years later, the large agribusinesses taking note, too!

The writer is executive director of the Midwest Food Connection.

In the Star Tribune's annual Investors Roundtable article (Dec. 31), one of the nine featured wealth managers was quoted as follows: "I'm really concerned about inflation, wage inflation. It's a good thing for the average worker, but not a good thing for the economy." And there is no evidence that any of the other eight wealth managers challenged her opinion.

Think about that.

The attitude of these money managers is shameful.