State Rep. Bob Dettmer is right. It's shameful that the Legislature refused to support the commissioning of the brand-new submarine USS Minnesota ("Please, a little float for this boat?" July 25). Over the decades other states (Mississippi, Missouri, Alaska, etc.) have supported this traditional role of providing financial support to the commissioning ceremony for a new Navy ship as it and its crew enters its service.
I retired from the company that built the Minnesota and more than a thousand other ships, and watched as time after time states and cities provided proud support to their namesakes. I don't understand this unique lack of support. Part of the problem may be the tepid coverage the Star Tribune and local TV news has provided to completion of this new ship, only the third in history to bear the state's name. Best of all would be reconsideration of this mistake by the Legislature.
