Netlets for Sunday, Jan. 6

Let me just make certain that I understand this scenario in Prior Lake.

Chris Lind was fired from his job with the school district for cause (insubordination, among other things). He then gets elected to the school board (something he has "always wanted") on a fiscally conservative platform. And then he demands monetary compensation for wrongful dismissal, and threatens to sue the same school board that he is now a member of (Star Tribune, Dec. 29). And this is fiscally conservative how?

Public education is so poorly funded, the school districts need every penny they have to sustain the programming and curriculum they have in place, and then you have this "fiscally conservative" individual trying to line his own pockets? It's not easy to fire someone anymore, the district would not have done it without just cause. He has admitted that his actions contradicted what was allowable under his employment with the school district. He hasn't even started his term with the school board, and is already showing his true colors.

Chris Lind, you should be ashamed of yourself. Do the right thing, drop this entire matter right now, resign from the school board, and move on. Your behavior is creating an environment in the community that is counterproductive to what the school board and educators are there for -- to teach the youth of the community. You are doing a grave disservice by your behavior. You made your point, now do no further harm.

AMY BECKHAM, MAPLE GROVE

Adopted adults deserve information As a mother of three adopted/reunited adult children, I read with compassion the Dec. 30 front-page story, "Emily Saunders finds the missing piece of her puzzle."

Because I know that there are a lot more like Emily out there looking for that possible twin void, I work with MCAR (Minnesota Coalition for Adoption Reform) to pass legislation so 19-year-old adults can all get their original birth certificates.

EUNICE ANDERSON, BURNSVILLE

Not all adopted Koreans feel incomplete As I sit at my kitchen table having finished the article about Emily Saunders, adopted Korean going in search of her birth family, I feel the need to write. After reading so many of these stories over the years, I feel the general public must know that not all adoptees are "missing something" or feel the need to "stitch together the past."

This is a very individual situation and one that, from my experience, is not common. I happen to know a number of adopted Koreans none of whom feel the need to know anything more then their Korean birth mother made the difficult, unselfish decision to give them a better life than she could provide at the time.

I am an adopted Korean and feel I have a very complete and enriched life. My adoptive parents and family (it seems odd to even use the word "adoptive" as I have simply thought of them as my parents and family for 33 years) are terrific; I am the mother of three boys, and have a job I love going to each day. My husband and I adopted our oldest son -- my own personal way of paying forward the opportunities that I feel I've been given by my birth mother.

So, I write to say that while I respect Emily for her personal decisions, she does not represent all of us adopted children.

The history of scalping In an attack on Nick Coleman's Dec. 23 column, one Dec. 30 letter writer pointed out that Indians "cut the scalps off the losers." The evidence does support the existence of scalping in the New World going back to prehistoric times.

However, the commentator appears to believe that scalping is a practice limited to Native Americans. In fact, it occurred in China as long as 4,000 years ago and is mentioned in early Greek literature. In the 1600s, the English used decapitation as a way of subjugating the Irish.

In the New World, the scalping became widespread only with the European institution of "scalp bounties." In 1694 Massachusetts paid 50 pounds for any scalp regardless of age or sex and by 1704 were paying 100 pounds for a man (older than age 10), 40 pounds for a woman and 20 pounds for a child. The English, French, Dutch and Mexicans all paid bounties and this practice continued in America late into the 1800s. Perhaps the writer might want bone up on his rather shaky grasp of history before he makes such sanctimonious comments in the future.

PRISCILLA ELWELL, MINNEAPOLIS

Still waiting for church accountability The Dec. 29 Star Tribune article about St. Francis Council Member LeRoy Schaffer being censured for sexual harassment makes me struggle again with the following question: