In "Frey off to a rocky start after campaign vows of change" (Minnesota section, Feb. 20) we learn that recently re-elected Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey does not have the public support that he needs to move the city forward now that some previous supporters are pulling back their support. And in answering questions about the killing of Amir Locke, Frey takes a position made famous by Richard Nixon — I take full responsibility, but it wasn't my fault. Frey also claims to be an advocate for transparency.

The Star Tribune Editorial Board is on record (as it should be) demanding a full investigation of the events of Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C. But where is the investigation of the events of late May 2020 in Minneapolis, the Star Tribune's backyard?

We know what happened on 38th Street and Chicago Avenue S. on May 25, 2020, and the officers involved are facing whatever accountability our legal system can provide. But where is the accountability for what took place outside the Third Precinct Station (my precinct) on May 28, and along Lake Street? Where is the full investigation by our legal system? Or by the Star Tribune? Neither Frey nor then-Police Chief Medaria Arradondo has ever explained why there was zero police presence during these difficult 48 hours; let's start with that.

John K. Trepp, Minneapolis

POLICING AND MENTAL HEALTH

The big picture encapsulated in fewer than 20 words

A tiny, misleading statement in the Feb. 25 front-page article "Jury: Ex-cops violated Floyd's rights" illustrates the total neglect of the mental health aspects of the case. The statement reads: "They responded to a call from a clerk that Floyd had used a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes."

The clerk's concerns in making the call have been well-reported: He was primarily concerned about George Floyd's health, both mental and physical, and wanted to make sure that Floyd got the help that he needed. The officers' response to Floyd's irrational resistance to entering a police car, to his complete terror, shows their woeful lack of training in dealing appropriately with mental-health issues, as well their having been mistrained to perceive the mythical "excited delirium."

For many years, we as a society have been cutting funding for dealing with mental illness, as if we too have an irrational fear of facing it. So long as we continue to yield to this fear, we can expect more disasters in police conduct and other areas that badly need mental health resources and training.

Paul Andrew Swenson, St. Paul

JUDGES AND EMOTIONS

Stoicism in our times?

I can't help hearing negative comments about the judge who cried while giving out former police officer Kimberly Potter's sentence ("Potter granted leniency in Wright killing," Feb. 19). I realize there are many opinions about this matter and have listened to many sides. A different judge wrote about the subject in the Opinion Exchange section of the Star Tribune a few days later ("Why I have cried on the bench," Feb. 24).

With all that has occurred in the past two years, I would ask you: "Why aren't you crying?"

Rena Lindgren, Minnetonka

WHAT KIDS ARE BEING TAUGHT?

Avail yourself of an easy, existing way to find out

This is for all the parents and political types who are crying about parents needing to see teachers' lesson plans ahead of time so they know what their children are learning. My daughter-in-law and son are both teachers. They just had parent-teacher conferences. They both stayed after school for four hours to meet with parents. My daughter-in-law had only one parent show up, and my son had eight parents. They both have several students who are struggling in their classes, but not much parent interest. Aren't these conferences a good way to communicate face-to-face with your child's teacher?

Julie Koplitz, Cambridge

THE CATHOLIC FAITH

The value in preserving parish life, done well

Notably absent from the Jan. 20 article on the growing polarization in local Catholic parishes ("Whose traditions? Catholic tensions grow") was any "good news," and that fact should cause all of us who are Catholic great sadness.

Done well, parish life provides a home for believers to celebrate life's deeply meaningful moments, to commune with one another and the Divine, and to find strength for our shared journey here on Earth. But the gospel message we are called to proclaim, the good news of forgiveness, healing and life's ultimate victory over death, is muffled, muted or wholly undermined by an overt, rigid focus on universal church law and a constant hunt to determine who among us is not "Catholic enough." Is it any wonder why we see so many of our fellow Catholics searching out new places to feed their souls?

While there are those who embrace a return to a bygone age of traditional language, dress and liturgical practice as the best or purest way to worship, I'm not sure how such a retrograde approach does anything more than pacify the preferences of a select few while ignoring the real needs of a great many. Because if God is who we say God is, perhaps our parish life has less to do with properly following a church rule book and more to do with living a shared life that brings healing and hope to our larger communities. And that would be good news, indeed.

Joe Kolar, St. Paul

PREVENTING ABORTION

For thee and not for me, the officious men seem to believe

In a Feb. 10 front-page article on the urgency of the fight for abortion at the State Capitol, and in a Feb. 20 letter to the editor, among all the discourse and divide on the topic, I located one common theme: men masquerading behind their religious beliefs to dictate women's reproductive rights and choices.

You know what I wasn't able to find? Men who are willing to offer their own bodies — vasectomies to prevent unwanted pregnancies, perhaps? — in order to put [their] "convictions before God" to defend life, as Rep. Tim Miller, R-Prinsburg, said he'll continue to do — without inconveniencing men's bodies and rights, of course.

Bailey R. Meixner, Minneapolis

BOOK BANS

The boomerang effect

Steve Sack's Feb. 20 cartoon ("Our kids have a reading problem: They want to") brought back memories of the banning of "Lady Chatterley's Lover" and "Tropic of Cancer." If there had been any way to get my hands on those books in my rural hometown, I would have done so, because I was very curious to see what the fuss was all about. Don't the parents who want certain books banned realize that they're actually driving the kids to find a way to read them? And kids today can find anything they want on their smartphones. Even in rural Minnesota.

Sally Thomas, Edina

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