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Readers Write for Nov. 28, 2009

November 28, 2009 at 12:09AM

VIKINGS WANT A STADIUM

Zygi is wrong: The team belongs only to him

If the Minnesota Vikings belong "to the fans and the people of Minnesota" as owner Zygi Wilf says, why is it that we only share in the expense side of the ledger, and not the income side?

JOE SELVAGGIO, MINNEAPOLIS

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I am surprised to learn that, according to Zygi Wilf, the Minnesota Vikings belong to the people of Minnesota.

Funny, I haven't been receiving my dividend checks. Pony up, Mr. Wilf, and stop pandering to us. Need I remind you that you own this franchise and keep all the profits. If you need a new playground, build it. Don't come to me, asking me through my elected representatives to drop millions of dollars into your tin cup.

THOMAS FAUSKEE, MINNEAPOLIS

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Zygi Wilf says, "This team belongs to the fans and the people of Minnesota." What a self-serving hypocrite. The team belongs to Zgyi, and Zygi will benefit financially if we build him a stadium, just like the Pohlad family will from the new Twins ballpark.

RON PEARSON, ST. PAUL

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Funny, I don't remember buying a team lately. I don't remember cashing any broadcast revenue checks either. It's your team, Zygi. You want a new stadium, go buy yourself one.

KARL HERBER, MINNEAPOLIS

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Now Zygi zags. When he bought the Vikings, Wilf made a vow to keep the Vikings in Minnesota forever. Now we find out that Wilf really didn't mean it.

We should not be surprised, but then, like the citizens of Lake Wobegon, we take people at their word, fools that we are. Wilf made his fortune playing hardball in the business world, where vows and promises are not meant to be honored. He now plays the threat-to-move card if the taxpayers don't pony up a few hundred million to build a new stadium that will bring him tens of millions in new revenues.

Surely a successful financier such as Wilf can build his own stadium without putting the arm on state lawmakers and taxpayers. Business deals are done every day by selling stock (every Favre fan in the tristate area would buy), issuing bonds, and putting up some corporate cash. No doubt the NFL will put up a few million, as well.

By owning his own stadium, Wilf can not only boost his ego, but also reap the rewards of a high price tag when another billionaire who just has to own an NFL team comes along with an offer Wilf cannot refuse. You can be sure Wilf will jump at the chance to bank a rich gain on his investment.

JOHN HELGERSON, VICTORIA

KENNEDY DENIED COMMUNION

It's the proper way to treat anyone prochoice

A Nov. 25 letter writer states that the bishop who denied Patrick Kennedy Communion violated canon law by embarrassing him.

Fair enough, but isn't Kennedy also violating church law by advocating in favor of abortion, which is against Catholic teaching?

PHILIP KERLER, EAGAN

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Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin of Rhode Island has chastised Rep. Patrick Kennedy because of the congressman's support of abortion rights.

The bishop is blaming Kennedy personally for that stance. It seems that the bishop has forgotten that Kennedy was elected to represent the views of the majority of the people of his district, regardless of his own beliefs and convictions. He was not elected to represent the views of the Catholic Church, as the bishop seems to think.

BRIAN MARSH, SPRING LAKE PARK

defending unallotment

Legislators have only themselves to blame

In response to Rep. Steve Simon's Nov. 23 letter on unallotment, if he and his other tax-and-spend cronies had done their jobs, the budget problems could have been solved without the governor's drastic measure. But, no, the tax-and-spend mentality seems to have no cure.

BRUCE GRANGER, WEST CONCORD, MINN.

LEGACY AMENDMENT

It's doing the job supporters expect it to

The St. Cloud Times editorial that the Star Tribune reprinted on Nov. 25 had me scratching my head. "A sampling of other recent news reports reveal a $268,000 award for programming to a Park Rapids, Minn., public library, not to mention an untold number of government jobs and internships being created to assess impaired waters, serve as naturalists, create trails and the like."

The author is apparently shocked that money collected by the tax is going to support these programs. Why? These are the exact things that the amendment's tax is supposed to fund.

I voted against the amendment because I was afraid that in "these economic times," legislators would raid the funds generated by the tax and use the money to pay for something other than the arts and the environment. I'm glad to see that my fears were unfounded, and at least for now, the funds are going to support libraries, naturalists, trails "and the like."

TERESA MARRONE, MINNEAPOLIS