Netlets for Monday, Feb. 25

I received an e-mail from my employer today warning me that the air quality in southern Minnesota is in a range that makes physical activity dangerous for "sensitive groups" until a wind comes to blow the pollution away.

According to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency website, the air quality today is 107 in the Twin Cities area. The website says this level of air pollution can lead to "increasing likelihood of respiratory symptoms in sensitive individuals, aggravation of heart or lung disease and premature mortality in persons with cardiopulmonary disease and the elderly."

Well, I am 60 years old so, whether I am "elderly" or not, I certainly would want to do what I can do avoid "premature mortality."

I normally take the bus to work in the morning and walk home in the evening (4.5 miles). One of the things that I could do to limit exposure to our poisonous air, would be to curtail my walk, I guess. ut that is really frustrating. As an office worker, I walk to get a bit of exercise. As a mode of transportation, walking has the advantage of being 100 percent nonpolluting and has the side effect of being beneficial to the communities that one walks in. For example, more walkers on the sidewalks make the urban sidewalks safer.

Well, maybe the wind will come and blow the pollution away and we can consider the problem solved. But as I cough and choke on the fumes and stink of burning gasoline on my way home, walking along East 7th Street, along the lines of cars heading for the on ramp, I can't help but wonder if we as a society are maybe on the wrong path. It seems to me that a few changes in how we live and get around would not only assure us of a continuing supply of clean air to breath but have the side effect of conserving oil, an amazingly useful and versatile substance that we should conserving for the use of our grandchildren instead of burning up in our gas guzzlers.

We all know what the real solutions to pollution are: 1) park the automobile and walk, bike or take the bus or train, 2) when you have to drive use a small, fuel efficient car, 3) insulate your home and move closer to your work 4) turn your thermostat down and your air conditioner off, and 5) hold politicians accountable for investing in real, clean and renewable energy sources (not idiotic pretend solutions like ethanol!).

Think people! Think about the decisions that we make about where we live and how we get around. We could be making better decisions than a half-hour commute in an SUV on an overcrowded freeway that leads to premature mortality from poisoned air. Am I the only one in this city who thinks that we really could find a better way to deal with air pollution than to hope that the wind will come and blow it away?

NORMAN J. OLSON, MAPLEWOOD

Legislature must override "Pawlenty veto sets up fight over Transportation funding bill" (Star Tribune, Feb. 23) says it all. There is enormous support for the Transportation funding bill that passed Thursday. This includes the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, community groups, both roads and transit advocates, environmental organizations, county and local governments, and a supermajority of legislators (136 of 201).

Gov. Tim Pawlenty is the outlier here, setting up a fight with his opposition to the transportation funding bill. The bill is a compromise that makes a reasonable, but vital, infusion to our infrastructure. The governor has ignored my constituent pleas to stop his fighting, so legislators must take the lead with an override of his veto.

SARAH MULLINS, ST. PAUL

Smoking at the theater tavern The writer of a Feb. 24 Netlet clearly knows his way around self-righteousness, but nothing of the theater world. All actors paid for their work? Has he never seen a Nativity play down his church at Christmas, or the local high school production of "Romeo and Juliet"?

Fair enough, maybe he does not have any real interest in theater and avoids going. Just like he doesn't have to go to the bars on their theater nights.

JAMISON FOLLAND, MINNEAPOLIS

Don't blame Constitution for NIU killings How interesting to read your Feb. 16 Letter of the Day ("Latest school shooting hits close to home") and find the writer referring to the U.S. Constitution as "Blah, blah, blah." The writer is "tired of the arguments" that the Constitution gives people the right to bear arms. The words "right to bear arms" were not provided by the National Rifle Association to the Constitution. On the contrary, they are stated in the Second Amendment, which also states that this right "shall not be infringed."

It is telling that some of our citizens view amendments to the Constitution as tiresome. Instead of blaming the Constitution, please put the blame where it should rest -- with the individual who decides to plan and commit murder. We have plenty of laws. The problem is with people who choose to break those laws.

What happened at Northern Illinois University this past month was an incomprehensible breakdown in personal morality. It can be argued that it was further evidence of a breakdown of societal morality. However, it cannot be argued that it was a breakdown of the Constitution.

PERRY NOUIS, LITTLE FALLS, MINN.