Readers Write for Friday, Dec. 4, 2009

How refreshing to read the Dec. 3 story about the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, "With budget in balance, SPCO to lower prices."

Can you imagine in today's environment a business that isn't raising ticket prices or asking for a public handout to solve their budget shortfalls? Rather SPCO is cutting expenses and salaries, freezing retirement contributions and canceling a European tour. In effect, they are doing what a business must do to compete in today's economy.

I hope our state legislators (Republican and Democrat) have read this article. It will help them understand what tough decisions must be taken with Minnesota's bloated budget -- it has increased an average of 19 percent per biennium since 1960.

BOB JACKSON, ROSEMOUNT

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With a state deficit looming of billions more, I know what to do: Have the governor unallot his salary and the salaries of the legislators.

It is obvious that they should work for nothing, since they cannot do our business or fund our state services. No pay, no per diem, no nuttin.

SHELDON WINNIG, CRYSTAL

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If Gov. Tim Pawlenty is truly concerned about the state's budget crisis, he should immediately call the Legislature into special session and not wait until the Legislature convenes in February.

Or is he too preoccupied with his "unofficial" 2012 election campaign to be bothered with something so trivial as his gubernatorial duties?

JOHN RAYMOND, ST. PAUL PARK

The bill passed by the U.S. House and the legislation currently under consideration in the U.S. Senate create many new government agencies and commissions that will operate between doctors and patients. They will reduce services to seniors and the disabled while putting an increasing burden on the states by dramatically increasing the Medicaid rolls. Most states are currently struggling with Medicaid costs and cannot afford to cover this additional amount.

At a time when we have double digit unemployment, which is expected to rise even higher and remain high for the next 12 to 24 months, Congress is not serving the people by passing huge spending bills like this health care takeover. People are having to manage on greatly reduced income, and Congress should curtail its spending as well.

Further, there is serious concern as to whether these government mandates are even constitutional.

With more than 50 percent of the country saying we don't want these bills, Congress should listen to us. The message we are sending is: "It's about the economy!"

PEGGY ERICKSON, BRAINERD, MINN.

As a critical-care nurse, I use a vast array of technology to help my patients survive and recover from life-threatening conditions. Every piece of it, right down to the thermometers, is flawed. My job as a clinician is to know how the device or technique is flawed, and how care needs to be adjusted in light of that knowledge.

Clinical technologies, like any other, are flawed. However, "flawed" is not semantically equivalent to "useless." As always, the challenge is to gain the most benefit from a technology while mitigating the consequences of the flaw.

DAMON GATES, MINNEAPOLIS

The Fostering Success in Education Act and the Educational Success for Children and Youth Without Homes Act, recently introduced by Sens. Al Franken and Patty Murray, would create a more seamless and nurturing system for foster and homeless children. The bills would allow children who already face too many challenges to remain in their current school even if they move to another district, ensuring that they could keep the credits they've already earned.

Too often too few resources and too little time make it difficult for homeless and runaway youth to remain connected in school and receive the necessary tools to build better lives. Catholic Charities works with foster and homeless children and helps them navigate a system that overwhelms children and youth who lack positive adult relationships and the opportunities to participate in school activities and build communities with their peers.

ANDREA SIMONETT, MINNEAPOLIS;

DIRECTOR, HOPE STREET FOR RUNAWAY