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Letter of the Day (Aug. 14): Drug enforcement, media quality, invasive species, bull's run

August 14, 2013 at 11:33PM

Illustration: Mailbox. (Susan Hogan — Tribune Media Services/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

DRUG ENFORCEMENT

The law's the law, until it's changed

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder thinks that there are too many people in jail or prison for drug charges. I agree, but we differ on this substantially.

As AG, Holder just plans on ignoring or not enforcing current law ("Holder to ease rules on drug sentencing," Aug. 12). I think Congress ought to change the law. What Holder proposes to do is illegal.

His plan is merely a continuation of what this administration has done for five years — treat the law like the "Golden Rule" — he who has the gold, makes the rules. "I am the AG, so stuff your subpoena." "Illegal immigrants are no longer illegal, because I say so." There are a ton of other examples of this administration flouting the law.

We are supposed to be a nation of laws (not of men), and we had better get back to it fast or this nation will fall apart shortly. Obey the law, or change it. Don't make it up on the fly.

JAY HUYCK, Maple Grove

THE MEDIA

How news is presented makes all the difference

The Star Tribune and all media often slant the news or run a headline that is misleading. Here is one from Tuesday: "Boomers found to be largest donors." The article then explains that 72 percent of boomers (ages 49 to 67) give an average of $1,212 per year. But 88 percent of the oldest generation (over age 67) give an average of $1,367. Who did you say gives more?

Boomers make up the largest population segment, so give more in the aggregate, but the older generation give more to charity on an individual basis.

PATRICK FINLEY, Edina

• • •

One reason I prefer getting news from the paper is the overreach that pervades online news. The morning after the PGA golf championship, an Xfinity headline hyped "Dufner wins PGA, calls golf boring." Oh, really. So in a moment of weakness I bit, and read the article. It quoted Dufner, who did say that "big plays in [other sports] will get you pumped up. For me, golf is a little more boring. I hit it in the fairway or I don't." He was saying that golf doesn't usually have the same number of action-packed, exciting moments typical of basketball, baseball, and football. However, the suspense is certainly there.

I'm not writing that newspapers don't ever overextend with their headlines. They can, but it's not a daily occurrence. Give me the Star Tribune any day.

JIM BARTOS, Brooklyn Park

• • •

I was surprised by the article about Don Shelby in the Aug. 10 Star Tribune article "Former anchor not running for Congress."

The article left out some very important information.

It was stated that Shelby said: "And I probably wouldn't be the perfect Democrat candidate, because my tendency as a reporter is to go where the facts are, and if the conservatives held the facts on one side, then I'd have a tendency to find some importance in supporting public policy based in the facts that they held."

The article should have included the next statement by Shelby, reported elsewhere: "Sometimes the liberals have the facts. You should go where the facts are. That means you support the liberals. It's not one side that always has the right answer."

I believe there is a distinct advantage in hearing the whole statement — not just part of it. This is the sort of partial information/misinformation that should never occur in a newspaper.

DARLENE THYEN, Paynesville, Minn.

• • •

NEWS FLASH … I'm not running for the very same legislative seat that Don Shelby is not running for. Press conference at 4 p.m. I'm sure as many people will show up for it as actually care that Don Shelby is not running!

CHERYL HUNSTOCK, Minneapolis

• • •

The Aug. 11 headline about Eydie Gorme: "Pop vocalist dies with life partner Lawrence at side."

Is the Strib ideologically opposed to using the word "husband" in a headline? Or has clarity and conciseness given way to PC nonsense?

CATHERINE WALKER, Minneapolis

INVASIVE SPECIES

With zebra mussels, it's gotta be eradication

The Aug. 11 Short Takes item ("Wake up on invasives") has a point. We need state leadership for this issue. However, containing the spread of zebra mussels is a lost cause and a waste of money for several reasons. Boat trailer inspections cannot detect zebra mussels within the tubular frame of the boat trailer or within the lower cooling passages of the motor. Damp anchor ropes and drift socks can transmit zebra mussels into the next lake if it's within 48 hours of leaving a contaminated lake. The wholesale bait dealers are not carefully inspected, hence many of the retail bait tanks can be, or are, contaminated. Finally, animals can be carriers of the zebra mussel.

Eradication is the only answer. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is wasting our tax dollars on these ineffective inspections and regulations. Eradication research should be the DNR's No. 1 priority.

MIKE GARDNER, Onamia, Minn.

BULL RUNS

And for that it is killed — for what? PR?

Due to human error, a normally docile bull escapes from its pen and, being an animal yearning for some exercise, goes for a run across the Dakota County Fairgrounds, unfortunately — but not deliberately — injuring nine people who got in its way. Rather than demand accountability from whomever allowed the bull to escape, the animal's owner decides to take the expensive bull to the slaughterhouse because he supposedly feels bad about what happened.

Perhaps he thought his actions would serve some public-relations purpose. It only made him look like a fool. If the bull's penalty for going on a run was death, I wonder what the owner is going to do to the guy who actually let it out.