Readers Write (April 17): Bald eagles and science funding, WikiLeaks, border wall, St. Paul redevelopment, higher education, probation reform

Seeing the pictures of the bald eagles in the Twin Cities area (Variety, April 5) reminds me of a great local science story. Sightings of bald eagles are almost common now. This was not always the case. I'd like you to know about a man we call Eagle John. He's one of those amazing Minnesotans who you probably never heard of. He was instrumental in bringing the bald eagle back from the brink of extinction in the Lower 48. This was possible with funding and research paid for by the federal government and the banning of DDT. (That would be taxes and regulations.)

Eagle John doesn't want another award. He wants you to stand up for science. Push back against politicians who want to cut scientists out of the loop and cut funding for research. And go to the March for Science on April 22.

I was deeply disturbed by the long article of self-justification written by Julian Assange ("WikiLeaks will continue to speak truth to power," April 13). The man and his criminal enterprise are a blight on humanity. He and his fellow thieves are responsible for damage and even death to untold numbers of patriotic, hardworking and honest agents of the U.S. and other nations. Then there are the expensive programs developed by competing agencies to protect ordinary citizens of the world, who are unnecessarily exposed and corrupted by Assange's band of criminals.

He professes to be neutral, but anyone who is paying attention can detect his bias in favor of absolute anarchy and libertarianism. He should be arrested, convicted and jailed — and his criminal organization destroyed — at the earliest opportunity.

The New York Times editorial about the border wall ("The Commander-in-Tweet and that wall," April 12) got everything right except that the problem does not start 1,500 miles south in poverty-stricken Central America. It starts with drug demand here, and the 30-year-old war on drugs. Much of the demand for drugs is from poverty-stricken Americans. I don't know how to treat drug addiction, but it has to start with getting politics out of it — no more appealing for votes and fundraising. Treatment will require funding, likely less expensive than what we are doing now, but with opposition to taxes for anything preventive, we have not yet struck bottom.

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When considering construction of a great wall along our southern border, perhaps the president should first consider history:

France's Maginot Line was much more modern. It was built in the pre-World War II era by the French to deter a German evasion. It was bombproof and tankproof, with modern living quarters in tunnels below. It was an engineering marvel. The only thing it didn't do was to stop the German invasion. The Germans simply went around it.

The Berlin Wall was not pretty. It fact it was an ugly thing. Purely functional. It was constructed to divide the city East from West. The Communist world from the free world. In that, it was successful for a time. It also successfully divided the poor from the wealthy and the captive from the free. And, in the end, the wall came down and freedom crossed the divide.

So what simple message should the president take from all this? I would say to remember that ladders are cheaper than walls, and are much more portable.

The April 11 issue of the Star Tribune reports that options for the future of the old rail line at the Ford plant are being weighed, and it seems certain the land will be redeveloped in some way to make it useful to the community.

That area is quite similar to the area where the 3M plant once stood in East St. Paul. Yet, after all these years it remains nothing but an eyesore. Why? I no longer live on the East Side, but I have watched and wondered why this perfectly good land stands unused and empty. In fact, the whole East Side of the city seems to have been forgotten.

The Star Tribune Editorial Board is right that the state should invest more in our community and technical colleges to ensure that we have the educated workforce that our economy demands ("Legislature skimps on higher ed funding," April 13). However, students need to have protections from rising tuition because too much of the cost of education is being placed on them.

Minnesota's two-year college students pay the third-highest tuition in the nation. Without the Legislature mandating a tuition freeze during the last four years, Minnesota may have jumped to No. 1. And that is not a list we want to be on top of.

We can all admit that how we fund higher education in Minnesota is broken, but it is wrong to saddle students with even more debt by allowing the board of trustees to raise tuition. Especially a board that is unaccountable to Minnesotans and unwilling to listen to the concerns of students.

The writer is vice president of the Minnesota State College Student Association.

As the executive director of the Minnesota County Attorneys Association, I feel compelled to respond to the April 14 commentary "Minnesota must wise up about probation reform."

The County Attorneys Association appreciates that there are varied probation practices around the state and the fact that, in practical terms, most of the state already has a system in which probationers earn early discharge through compliance with the terms of their probation. We want to learn more about how this is working in different places in the state and whether there are models we can apply statewide through legislation.

We agree that our policy should be based on evidence and that providing probationers with greater hope and additional incentives for compliance is important. But we also want to assure that whatever changes are made, they are made with the best interests of public safety in mind.

We continue to engage in the dialogue, but we are not united yet around any particular legislative proposal.