Netlets for Wednesday, Jan. 2

I believe the state of a restaurant's restrooms is a direct reflection on the establishment's success and/or failure. I hope this measuring stick doesn't also apply to Minneapolis public schools, specifically our high schools, or we really are in trouble.

I have two kids at South. I am there often for sporting events and concerts and am also a regular visitor at Southwest High School. To put it simply, the bathrooms are gross. Recently, money was funded to renovate all the Minneapolis high school auditoriums. South's is beautiful! (Although I thought it was fine before.)

Now let's put some money where it is really needed and do the bathrooms next! Our kids deserve it.

MARY BERGHERR, MINNEAPOLIS

Plan for Minneapolis schools must truly engage families The Minneapolis school board has adopted a rigorous plan to promote student learning, which the Star Tribune evaluated in a Dec. 22 editorial. I commend the board for demanding teacher competence. I welcome the challenge to consistently assess my current instructional strategies to enhance student learning. I strongly support the need for teachers to continually seek ways to positively interact with families. However, if the school board truly wants to close the achievement gap, it must vocally demand as much from families as it does of the teachers. Families also need a set of clear expectations.

Children need to consistently attend school. Families should attend parent conferences. Families should provide a working number for teacher contact. Students must consistently return homework. Families should immediately meet with the school personnel when negative student behavior interferes with learning. This is a tough but necessary challenge but if the school board, teachers and families seriously want to transform relationships and close the achievement gap.

BARBARA GUROVITSCH, GOLDEN VALLEY

I waited outside the stadium after the game hoping to be lucky enough to obtain an autograph from any of my boyhood idols. First, Tony Oliva showed extreme patience when the pen I provided him failed to work. He graciously pulled another from his pocket and signed with a smile. Later, as the crowds thinned, came the ultimate experience.

I spied Harmon Killebrew, my No. 1 hero, making his way out across the parking lot. Though it was late, and he had to have been tired, he stopped and patiently autographed every item presented him by a small group of fans. I still recall one father telling his son that his autograph would someday be worth a good deal of money. I will never forget how Harmon took my program from me and signed it as though it was truly a pleasure to do so.

For years I had admired this man for what he could do on a baseball field, but from that moment on, I have also admired Harmon for how he conducts himself off the field as well. In this day of high salaries, steroid abuse and other questionable behavior by some players, I feel so fortunate to have someone like Harmon Killebrew to look up to. As for the value of my autographed program, it will never be sold, but will be given to my son as a priceless bond between father, son and a hero of the game we love.

DAN NIELSEN, MAPLE GROVE

D.C. is not really the Democrats' den I'm tired of hearing that the Democrats "took control" of Congress in 2006. The Senate has a Democratic majority with a margin of two, one of whom was ill and absent for six months or more, and which includes Joe Lieberman, who votes Republican on all issues dealing with war.

Then we have King George on the throne who feels utterly free to veto any bill which is not exactly to his liking. The Democrats are not in control; the president is enjoying his freedom.

LAURA STONE-JERAJ, LITTLE CANADA

Even the U.S. Army knows water-boarding is torture The writer of the Dec. 24 letter "Debating torture" suggests that water-boarding is not torture because "while [it] may be extremely uncomfortable and even terrifying, there is no infliction of pain in the process." In fact, water-boarding, a technique invented by the Inquisition, is torture.

It is illegal under U.S. law, the Geneva Convention and the U.N. "Convention Against Torture & Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment," a convention to which the United States is a signatory. Moreover, water-boarding is a war crime, and was treated as such following World War II, when Japanese prisoners were sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for the crime of water-boarding American soldiers. Even the U.S. Army recognizes that water-boarding is torture -- in 2006, the new army manual banned torture and degrading treatment of prisoners, including water-boarding.

The letter writer then goes on to ask which is more important -- saving lives by using harsh techniques or aspiring to nobility? Torture, however, does not save lives. According to military interrogation experts, torture is the least effective, least reliable way to gather information. Army Col. Stuart Herrington, a military intelligence specialist, says that, in addition to providing unreliable information, torture also, ""endangers our soldiers on the battlefield by encouraging reciprocity," does "damage to our country's image" and "undermines our credibility."