Readers Write for Monday, Feb. 1

As the recall of Toyota vehicles expands to include more models and countries in Europe and Asia, I've detected a note of hysteria in some of the news reporting. Try to place the recall in perspective.

While there almost certainly is a mechanical problem with the accelerator pedals in some vehicles, what is less clear is the scope and severity of the problem. The most alarming statistics suggest that the problem has resulted in 275 accidents and 18 deaths since 1999.

This data comes from a single source, Safety Research and Strategies, a private company that compiles data for, among other things, use in liability lawsuits. So far there has been no independent verification of these figures. But for the sake of argument, let's assume that these numbers are valid. Bearing in mind that the period covered is 10 years, and dividing by the total number of potentially affected vehicles on the road, that means that the risk of an accident caused by a sticky gas pedal in a Toyota is, by my estimate, roughly equivalent to the risk of being struck by lightning.

DAN BECK, MINNEAPOLIS

Perhaps the Jan. 29 letter writer who criticized Rep. John Kline for standing by while Congress hatched the health care reform bills should have done his homework.

He would have found congressional Democrats would not allow Republicans to offer any amendments to the bill. All of the consideration and writing of the bills was done in closed Democratic caucuses.

And the letter writer should be ashamed of slamming Kline being on the dole for health care "all of his life." Kline has devoted a third of his life to defending this man's right to voice his opinion.

I was surprised that the Star Tribune's Jan. 27 account of the robberies and shooting on the East Bank campus mentioned the alarm systems put in place after the Virginia Tech killings but failed to mention that a "crime alert" was not sent out until 11:43 a.m. on Tuesday, nearly 13 hours after the incidents. As an emeritus faculty who still occasionally teaches at the U (at night), I would hope that future alerts might be better timed so that students, faculty and staff might actually be able to take precautions in a time of danger.

JAMES G. SCOVILLE, ST. PAUL

I and my fellow physicians are appalled by the senseless physical and unforgettable human carnage that the excessive use of alcohol by some of our patients frequently brings into our professional lives. Our society feels ambivalent about limiting the use of alcohol. This leads to a societal "teflon" attitude that instantaneously recognizes and acknowledges the seriousness and preventability of alcohol-related tragedies but soon thereafter mentally dismisses any serious solution to this problem because it will infringe and limit people having fun.

Nineteen-year-old Ryan DeZurik was crushed in his car by a drunken driver's Hummer. As his distraught mother, Sherrie, said in the Jan. 17 chapter of Star Tribune's "Smashed" series, "how did we ever get in the mind-set that I've got to drink when I'm ice fishing, I've got to drink at Christmas, I've got to drink because it's nice weather out, I've got to drink because the weather sucks?"

To achieve a healthier environment for all, society has decided to put restrictions on an individual's ability to smoke. This cultural attitude change has to be transferred to cover the excessive use of alcohol, making it socially unacceptable -- not only because it adversely affects the indulging individual's health and safety, but because it can unjustifiably harm innocent persons.

A Jan. 22 letter writer stated, "We're Americans. We can take care of ourselves."

Really? All of us? I work in a hospital emergency room and would hesitate to repeat this mantra to the parents of a disabled child who will never walk or talk and who will need care the rest of her life. Or to a depressed teenaged girl who is suicidal due in part to sexual abuse by her stepfather. We would send her to a hospital where she could recover in safety, except there are no beds available. Or relate this to the widow who is losing the farmhouse she has lived in for 50 years, and who stops buying medication and ends up in the hospital because of it.

We are only as moral as the amount of compassion with which we treat citizens like these, who can't take care of themselves.

BARBARA ZIMMERMAN, COLOGNE

In a Jan. 22 commentary, Rep. Marty Seifert, considered by some to be a front-runner for the Republican endorsement for governor in Minnesota, announced that "the DFL candidates for governor have offered simple solutions to solve Minnesota's budget shortfalls -- tax increases, specifically on the highest wage earner."

Seriously, the trouble with political communication these days is the tendency to stuff everyone from a particular political party through the same ideological keyhole. And that is exactly what Seifert has done with this issue of taxing the rich.

Let me set the record straight. While there are a couple of DFL candidates who put a particular emphasis on the solution of taxing the rich to balance the state's budget, I am not one of them. Is making our tax system less regressive a goal of mine? Yes, but it is only one part of a total solution that includes tax reform, less spending, improved efficiency and increased revenue.

Be assured that I am not a DFL candidate who will be instigating class warfare among our hard-working citizens. Indeed, I believe that all the people of Minnesota will have to step up and do their part to solve this very serious budget problem, and I intend to provide the honest leadership to get us there.

SUSAN GAERTNER, ST. PAUL;