North metro letters to the editor

Twins rain delay deal anything but fair ball The Twins have just had their first debacle in the new stadium that was paid for with lots of tax dollars.

My grandson, who is 20 years old and works a part-time job at a fast-food place, bought his first Twins tickets with his own money so he could take his Dad for an early Father's Day gift to a Twins-Yankees game last week.

Then he only got to see half a game, in part because of fears that Minneapolis couldn't handle the extra traffic if the original ticket-holders were allowed back in at 4 p.m. Wednesday, at the same time as a motivational event at Target Center.

So he only got half a game for his money, and the ticket holders for last Wednesday's game got a game and a half!

Why didn't they think about this when they built this stadium next to Target Center?

What will happen with the inept traffic department if we build a Vikings stadium?

COLETTA LUNDEEN

Brooklyn Center High deserves better rating The Minnesota Department of Education's labeling of Brooklyn Center High School as an underachieving institution is, at the very least, ill informed.

If we are to gauge performance and grade schools on a curve, wouldn't it be prudent to factor in such things as their percentage of ESL or lower-income students? What about the fact that District 286 has failed to pass a funding levy numerous times in the past six years, even as a levy lapsed and funding from the state declines?

I have two sons, now 20 and 22, who were open-enrolled at Brooklyn Center High School because of all that BCHS had to offer. Both are now in college majoring in education, and chose to teach because of their positive experience at BCHS.

The assessment by the Minnesota Department of Education differs greatly from that of my family.

MICHAEL SCHMITT

Tackle obesity while solving hunger In reference to your front-page story (May 26 Star Tribune) regarding how to fix the hunger problem locally, I wonder if that could be done by solving the obesity crisis at the same time.

What I mean is that someone should consider ways to get healthy food to people of all income levels, whether or not they are overweight or emaciated.

DAN WICHT

FRIDLEY

Privatize government recreation facilities Regarding two recent stories, "Bigger center doesn't pay off" (May 24 Star Tribune) and "One Ramsey County ice arena may be closed" (May 23):

When you look at the budget deficits faced by every level of government these days, I am shocked that no one is proposing taking a hard look at the issue of why governments feel the need to compete with private business across the board in the hospitality and recreation fields.

To make matters worse, cities are competing with other cities to offer bigger facilities with more amenities.

Why can't some of our elected officials take a closer look at their budgets and decide what could be done better and more efficiently by the private sector?

In addition, selling off these facilities would garner much-needed revenue, plus putting them into play in the private sector would significantly add to the local tax base.

This is a no-brainer.

WHITE BEAR LAKE

My, hasn't the world changed? As we approach the travel season, I believe it's worthwhile to observe how our great country has changed, sometimes in subtle ways, as the decades and centuries have passed. Let's reflect upon Charleston, S.C., as an example.

The Civil War started there in 1861, when rebels cheered the shelling of the Yankee troops at Fort Sumter outside the city's harbor. Today, residents of historic Charleston still cheer, but now it's for their minor league baseball team, an affiliate of none other than ... the Yankees.

JIM BARTOS