Letters to the editor for Sunday, Dec. 23

I read with interest your Dec. 16-18 series about the Department of Transportation under Carol Molnau's leadership.

I live in Albert Lea, but teach at Waldorf College in Forest City, Iowa, commuting to and from work on U.S. Hwy. 69. The worst part of my commute has always been the 10 or so miles between my house and the Iowa border. The road is poorly maintained in summer and winter.

Once we cross the border, however, the condition of the highways improves. Iowa, it seems, takes better care of its rural, regional highway system than Minnesota.

Molnau, from what I've read, isn't interested in answering questions about problems like this from the people of Minnesota. She'd rather talk about the new bridge or point fingers at the Legislature or figure out innovative ways to borrow more money.

So if she can't give straight answers about why our transportation infrastructure is in such dismal shape, why is she still commissioner? She does work for the people of Minnesota, doesn't she?

DAVID RASK BEHLING, ALBERT LEA, MINN.

Share the shame I don't like playing the blame game, so I'll play the shame game instead. After reading the Dec. 16 front-page article on the Hastings bridge, there is shame enough to go around our state many times over.

Shame on Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who vetoed a transportation bill that only provided a small part of the extra funding needed because the requisite tax increase was "unnecessary and onerous." You were elected to lead, Governor. Do it. If you have a better answer that actually accomplishes something, let's hear it. Don't just be Doctor No.

Shame on the Legislature, on both sides of the aisle. I'm talking not just about the current occupants, but also about those who occupied those seats (including, and especially, our present governor) during the 25 years it's been since we've pumped significant new dollars into the transportation system. Stop playing politics and work with the executive branch to write an acceptable bill. And a special shout-out to Dick Day: This bill would cost the average Minnesota family $400 a year? That's all? Then let's go!

And finally, shame on us. How is it the people of the leading state in the upper Midwest can't come together to agree on a solution to this crisis? Everyone wants better roads, but no one wants to pay for them. At least that's what the politicians think. Here's a news flash: It's going to cost something! Let's be smart enough to equitably share the burden; perhaps it means we need to reorder some other priorities, but it's not going to be free.

DAN NASSIF, MINNEAPOLIS

Regarding "Minneapolis police apologize for raid that led to gunfire" (Star Tribune, Dec. 18): I hope that the Minneapolis Police Department will hire competent individuals to do a thorough investigation into why this happened.

When did informants become the driving decisionmakers of a highly professional, trained SWAT team? I hope that our police officers don't fail to protect us this way, because every life in every house could have been killed.

NOAH VANG. ST. PAUL

It seemed rather odd to me that of sports writers Patrick Reusse, Jim Souhan and Joe Christensen, not one of them mentioned the use of steroids by our high school and even junior high athletes.

The outsider, Clark Griffith (guest commentary, Dec. 16), had the courage to highlight one of the main evils of performance-enhancing drugs -- that is, young athletes are pressured to follow suit and will have to live with the nasty side effects of these dangerous drugs on their maturing bodies.

Let's not put the blame just on unions and teams, but include sport writers with their heads in the sand. Let's also look at ourselves as fans as we demand maximum performance from "their" team members.

As usual, Lori Sturdevant's heart is in the right place ("Are jobs about to move on down the road?" Dec. 16), but come on! Bargains in road construction? I don't think so.

The engineers she quotes are special pleaders seeking lucrative contracts from Minnesotans. There won't be any "bargains." Materials costs won't be lowered and workers will paid "prevailing wages," meaning very high. If this is not true, will engineers prepare estimates for road projects and show how they will get the work done by cutting the costs of labor and materials so the taxpayers will get a bargain? Answer: They can't.

As for contractors threatening to leave Minnesota, well, that is a rerun of the Twins' silly decade-long threat to leave Minneapolis. Anywhere they might go they will have to compete with local established contractors. If the contractors could rake in big dollars elsewhere, they'd be gone by now.