Readers write for Thursday, Feb. 24

A few years ago, my wife and I were traveling by van with an Elderhostel group in Costa Rica. I couldn't help noticing the potholes on the main roads in that beautiful, democratic country, and the slow speed drivers took to avoid them.

I inquired about this, and a driver responded: "In Costa Rica, we had to make a choice -- fix the potholes on public funds or national health care. Our choice: total health care."

With the trillions of state and national debts in our country, do we need, at taxpayers' expense, new sports stadiums, high-speed rail, and endless other social programs?

The compassionate message from Costa Rica was clear: Live within your means, and avoid the potholes.

DR. JOSEPH F. WETHINGTON,

MINNEAPOLIS

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States retain creative and able citizens by being places where they want to live, and by having amenities -- museums, parks, theater, zoos, sports facilities, a good environment -- even if these things are tax-supported.

JOHN SHERMAN, MOORHEAD, MINN.

A recent letter writer who supports Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker stated that an influx of "pro-union thugs" joined the protesters in Madison. My dictionary defines thugs as "gangsters and killers." I haven't seen any news coverage of gangsters and killers at the protests. Perhaps these thugs were an embellishment imagined by the letter writer to make his argument seem more compelling.

MARK HENRY O'NEILL, ST. MICHAEL

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CHARLES HUTCHINSON, CRYSTAL

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When will attention shift to the dismal academic performance in Wisconsin's public schools? The Department of Education reports that two-thirds of eighth-graders cannot read proficiently, despite the state's doubling of per-pupil spending over the past 10 years.

While the state's fiscal condition is dire, even more dire is the reality that its schools/teachers/bureaucrats are consigning two of every three students to a lifetime of diminished economic opportunity.

It is high time that this failing public-schools monopoly be replaced with genuine choice for families who care about their children's futures. That means vouchers, charter schools, and merit pay for superior teachers.

Last week, the Minnesota State University Student Association and the Minnesota State College Student Association held a rally to raise awareness about the importance of public higher education.

Currently, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) System is being funded below 2001 levels, yet the system is serving 32,000 more students. Our institutions and our system are more efficient than they have ever been. The MnSCU system provides Minnesota businesses with more than 60 percent of the state's undergraduates. Eighty percent of those graduates stay and work in our state.

Minnesotans cannot afford further increases in the cost of their public education. The average Minnesota state university student is graduating nearly $26,000 in debt.

In 2001, it was $12,600. In 1980, the state funded 80 percent of a public higher education in Minnesota. Today, students pay for more than 56 percent of the cost.

Students are aware of the economic realities of our state's deficit, but we cannot afford to sacrifice Minnesota's economic vitality and competitiveness by continuing to restrict access to higher education.

The writer, a student at Bemidji State University, is state chair of the Minnesota State University Student Association.

Minnesotans should not be fooled by recent false assertions questioning the pipeline safety of transporting oil from Canadian oil sands to the United States ("Pipeline safety questioned," Feb. 17).

Pipeline operators are held to stringent safety regulations and standards and have a strong record of reducing the number and volume of spills.

The polemics by the Natural Resources Defense Council ignore the fact that oil derived from oil sands has been moved through pipelines safely and efficiently for more than 40 years.

Such a record is possible only through strenuous regulatory oversight and the industry's own commitment to safety.

PETER LIDIAK, WASHINGTON, D.C.