Readers Write for Monday, Oct. 12

After reading "Estranged wife: Hecker still living high" (Oct. 8), I wondered: Is anyone else tired of hearing about the delusional adventures of Denny Hecker and his alleged propensity for spending binges?

With millions of honest Americans struggling to get by on meager unemployment checks, it would seem the most fitting punishment for this nit would be life under house arrest with his soon-to-be ex-wife, his girlfriend, his attorney and, perhaps, his wife's lover.

MICHAEL DMOWSKI, EDINA

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The trials and tribulations of the infamous Heckers read better than the dime novels that were so popular in the 1940s. Great entertainment for those of us who live an oh-so-full but lawful life. Keep 'em coming!

DIANE ANSELMO-LACY, EDINA

Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman recently met with the Kenwood Isles Area Association's Board and 30 other area residents. Dorfman chairs the Southwest LRT Policy Advisory Committee (PAC), which will decide Oct. 14 if the Southwest light-rail line will take the Uptown route through Minneapolis or the Kenilworth route that skirts Minneapolis. Questions centered on station ridership numbers as well as construction and mitigation costs.

South and central Minneapolis will become a light-rail dead zone if the PAC votes for the Kenilworth route. Even with a trolley running along the Midtown Greenway trench, most of these Minneapolis riders needing to use the line will have unnecessary transfers. Over the years there will be hundreds of thousands of wasted hours for thousands of riders.

The Uptown route is more difficult and more expensive. But the PAC should not proceed until it can make the Uptown route work. Successful communities solve these problems. Successful communities run their high-capacity transit through their high-density ridership.

WENDELL VANDERSLUIS, MINNEAPOLIS

Something frequently forgotten in the health care debate is who pays when an uninsured patient waits until he is critical before seeking help in an emergency room. The fact is each of us pays for that very expensive care. Surely it would have been much cheaper had the patient had a public option and been cared for in a doctor's office before becoming so ill.

ELLEN WOLFSON, MINNEAPOLIS

Why not? Well, as we found out a while back, it's because people will not buy it. We are afraid of radiation. Just the word brings up bad thoughts. I underwent radiation for cancer and it saved my life. It also did a lot of damage to my body. We know that the small amounts of radiation in the irradiation process are harmless and that the potential for eradicating E. coli in beef is huge.

The public needs more reassurance of the safety of irradiation. How about if the Star Tribune takes the lead? You started it.

JILL DAVIS, ST. PAUL

Kudos to John Ewoldt for recognizing the importance of buying local (Variety, Oct. 6). American workers undermine their own jobs and drive down their standard of living when they buy products made in countries that pay workers a fraction of what they are paid. Unfortunately, too many ignore this inconvenient truth. It won't matter if I buy from China to get a deal. Others will buy what I make, won't they?

BRUCE KELLEY, MINNEAPOLIS

The Obama spending has been in response to the greatest financial crisis since the 1930s. It started in 2007 and exploded in 2008. Much of the new spending is, of course, to be temporary, in anticipation that the crisis will pass and that the country will get on a more normal spending path.