Readers Write for Monday, Aug. 17

Regarding the Aug. 13 article "Student faced gay slurs by teachers," I am angry and appalled that something like this is still happening in our public schools.

How could these two educated teachers involved get a slap on the wrist, effectively no disciplinary action at all? Have these teachers had sensitivity training? This was only one incident and two teachers; how many more are not reported! My heart goes out to this student and his family, and to others who so unjustly suffer discrimination.

DONNA MIROCHA, ST. PAUL

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At a time when society is becoming more aware of bullying in schools and when we know that GLBT students face a higher suicide rate than their straight counterparts, I am sickened to learn that teachers and administrators are part of the problem.

I have the utmost respect for the majority of teachers and the problems they face in our schools; I have no compassion for teachers who act like thugs and bullies. Schools should be the one guaranteed safe place for a student. No one has taken responsibility; they simply paid hush money. It is time for true teaching to start, and that means firing everyone who did this or allowed it to happen.

DAVID SCHLOSSER, MINNEAPOLIS

I think the taxpayers and the teachers got off pretty easy -- a $25,000 settlement for the family and a three-day suspension for the teachers.

Superintendent Dennis Carlson says these teachers "should be judged by their entire work history." That's kind of like saying that since you have never robbed a bank before, we will let you off with a few days' suspension.

These teachers should have been fired. They have clearly demonstrated that they still don't get it.

DAVID A. HANSON, GOLDEN VALLEY

Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson's words regarding "wet houses" for homeless alcoholics (Star Tribune, Aug. 12) show that he obviously does not know much about the progressive and fatal disease of alcoholism. A few points that I can share may help in his education and increase his compassion and understanding.

My son-in-law's brother was articulate and friendly, the handyman in his Illinois town. When he held a job he delivered newspapers. After years of homelessness and living off friends, when they would have him, he moved into a privately owned "dry house" where he stayed for several months.

For reasons we will never know, on April 12, he succumbed to the lure of his addition and was asked to leave the residence. Just 15 days later, while looking for a drink from men he knew gathered down by the river, he was beaten and kicked by a stranger among them. The next morning he was found dead on a park bench. He died alone and, we assume, in some pain. He was 29 years old. His family wonders if they will ever stop asking what they could have done so that he would be alive today.

Commissioner Johnson, alcoholics pay a terrible price for their affliction. Having a safe place to live is unquestionably a gift to them from the community. It is a gift that must be given without strings. Our better angels will not let us be satisfied with less. After all, alcoholics are family.

DOLORES ULLSTROM, INDEPENDENCE

Your Aug. 11 editorial "Young women and breast cancer" gets many facts correct but still reaches the wrong conclusion.

This rarity does not make the diagnosis less painful to hear or any easier to handle. These young women face difficult choices and have fewer effective treatments than do women in other age groups. But sympathy is not the basis for sound public policy.

The EARLY Act would devote $45 million to educating young women about "evidence-based methods to lower the risk of breast cancer in young women." But decades of research have not determined what those methods are. Moreover, there is no evidence that raising awareness in this population would lower mortality. This bill, while well-intentioned, falls short of the mark at every level.

Let's get young women at risk of breast cancer the answers they deserve. That requires scientific research into why the mortality rate is higher, what detection methods would be effective and how best to deal with quality of life issues. A bill supporting that approach would make sense.

CHRISTINE K. NORTON, COTTAGE GROVE;