Letters to the editor for Saturday, Oct. 18

In 1988, Minnesota passed an amendment creating a lottery that would fund the environment and the natural resources trust fund.

Now the ads on TV make it sound as if, without the "extra" money, Minnesota will become polluted and unlivable. What happened to the millions raised by the lottery?

DEANNA MILLAR, CLARISSA, MINN.

On behalf of the Minnesota Organization of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (MOFAS), I would like to thank Sen. Linda Berglin and Rep. Karen Clark for their leadership in the Senate and House of Representatives for speaking on behalf of infants, children and adults living with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), a neurological and behavioral disorder caused when a woman drinks alcohol during pregnancy.

Through their hard work, support and understanding about this often-invisible disability, a proposed 30 percent cut in funding by the current administration was curtailed. Instead, the reduction is only 1.8 percent.

With this funding, MOFAS was able to continue to provide necessary intervention and family support programs and extend our work providing accessible and consistent diagnostic services to more communities throughout Minnesota.

Fifty-thousand Minnesotans struggle with permanent brain damage, learning disabilities, mental-health disorders and organ damage because their mothers drank alcohol while they were pregnant. This disability costs Minnesota more than $107.4 million annually, yet it is 100 percent preventable. Nine months of alcohol-free pregnancies save Minnesotans millions of dollars.

SUSAN S. CARLSON, PLYMOUTH;

FORMER MINNESOTA FIRST LADY, AND FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, MOFAS

Now that we have seen all the debates and a flood of interviews and TV ads, the difference in temperament between John McCain and Barack Obama is clear.

McCain is a fighter pilot; he solves a problem by focusing on it to the exclusion of all else.

Obama is a community organizer; he solves a problem by including its context. Each problem is connected to others and solved by eliminating the root cause. An example is Obama's recognition that improving our economy requires investment in infrastructure, including science and technology research together with education.

KENNETH HELLER, MINNEAPOLIS

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Sen. McCain is our only clear choice for president at this critical time.

He has leadership experience from his years in the Navy; Sen. Obama has none.

McCain knows how to get things done, even if it means going against his own party; Obama is an extreme partisan and has not once opposed his party.

And it was McCain, not Obama, who three years ago raised the warning flag about the looming dangers of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

BRAD NELSON, WHITE BEAR LAKE

What's the difference between a plumber and a hockey mom? One is willing to answer the media's questions about John McCain's positions on issues, and the other is running for vice president.

ERIC FERGUSON, MINNEAPOLIS

A lot of negative stories have come out in the past couple weeks about Tom Petters.

As an attorney representing nonprofit organizations, I have represented, donated to, worked with and associated with all of the charities whose names have appeared in these stories. More important, I have met some of the many thousands of people whose lives were drastically improved thanks to their generosity.

These charities lost significant assets, and the negative stories have the potential to further harm their traditional donor bases. This could not have come at a worse time -- a time when economic instability is already hurting charitable organizations. The Petters news should serve as a call to be even more generous with charities, which live and die based on the generosity of their donors.

Please continue to support wonderful organizations like Minnesota Teen Challenge, Mars Hill Media and the Fidelis Foundation.

MICHAEL HAAG, ANOKA

I can't stop thinking about Justin Hamilton and the mental and physical cruelty and torture that he allegedly suffered at the hands of those four men.