Readers write for Thursday, March 3

I recently returned from a medical mission to Haiti, only to read about a plan to restrict health care access and birth control services to the underserved here.

How can the wealthiest country in the world neglect for its citizens what poorer countries are striving to provide for their people?

By controlling family size, parents are better able to provide food, safe housing and education to their children. If every child were wanted and planned, we could skip the abortion debate.

I will never forget the last patient I cared for in Haiti. She had an unplanned pregnancy and five children already at home.

Her husband was working in the Dominican Republic to provide for them. Due to complications from an abortion, she almost lost her life and went through unbelievable pain while waiting for surgery.

When I had to relate the next day that a hysterectomy had been necessary, she met my explanation with a big smile and relief that she would not need to worry further about pregnancy.

How can we not see the cost-benefit effect of funding family planning services? This is much more beneficial than almost any other health care measure.

DR. LESLEE JAEGER, PLYMOUTH

Here we go again, interfering in the affairs of other countries. Have we learned nothing over the past 50 years?

Listen to all the would-be presidents and political pundits seeking to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya, to send in the Marines and give medical assistance. Who will pay for all of this?

Has any one thought to ask China if it would be OK? Where else would we get the money to pull off such a stunt?

When the people of Saudi Arabia start a revolt, will we support them as well? And "them" meaning whom? The people or the ruling family?

Freedom does not happen overnight. It takes a lot of lives, money and time. Let this play out without our help and it might work.

DON SOLLOM, THIEF RIVER FALLS, MINN.

Two letter writers (Readers Write, March 1) contended that funding for public broadcasting is not the best use of tax dollars because commercial stations offer the same content. Not true, especially when it comes to international news.

Just two weeks ago, John Rash's commentary ("Despite globalism, international news coverage is becoming a foreign concept," Feb. 12) noted the decline of network foreign news bureaus. National Public Radio, on the other hand, has tripled its foreign bureaus in the last decade.

Perhaps there is some value in keeping NPR and PBS around.

RITA ULRICH, APPLE VALLEY

I appreciate how tough it must be to stand against so many opinions, but I want to encourage the Legislature to stand strong on government spending ("GOP's 'no new tax' unity fraying," March 2).

This is the time to change the direction of our fiscal policy. I believe the people of Minnesota elected a majority of Republicans to the Legislature to make these tough choices and to do something different.

If the entire budget is balanced without additional revenue, adjustments in services will be made and people will move on. It will be tough once but better in the long term.

JOE DUPAY, ANDOVER

The ruling by Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Landwehr to hunt research bears wearing radio collars adorned with bright ribbons is barbaric ("Research bears will be fair game for hunters, DNR says," March 1).

The ruling destroys the good image of Minnesota created on the Internet by the bear that researcher Lynn Rogers has named Lily and her cubs. We now come off as Neanderthals.

Hunters are in the minority, but the DNR caters to their every whim. Gov. Mark Dayton must show leadership with a veto of this ruling and by canning the clueless commissioner.

SHIRLEY ANN HALL, MINNEAPOLIS

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The bears that researchers are trying to protect are a drop in the bucket compared with the total number of black bears in Minnesota that will always be legal to hunt.

The research bears around Ely, Minn., are being watched and studied from around the world. The information learned from their interaction with people and other bears is priceless.

The DNR needs to realize that people from all over the world, including many local hunters, support the protection of these bears.

JERRY T. JOHNSON, BLOOMINGTON

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Please check out www.bear.org and learn about black bears. Through updates and den cams, their whole world is opened to us! Check them out. You'll be glad you did.

DON JANUSZEWSKI, MONTICELLO, MINN.

Ted Kolderie ("Winter? We've got it -- in the best sense of the word," March 2) captured my sentiments exactly.

Having left Minneapolis in my early 20s to live in Des Moines, my friends politely thought I was nuts when I'd tell them that Minnesota winters were so much nicer. Statistically, Minnesota has more sunny days that Iowa -- due to the crisper colder air?

Forget about all that icy rain/snow and sleet and melting and freezing in Iowa. I once again have beautiful white mounds -- which this year keep being replenished -- and sunny blue skies to soak my eyes upon while trekking along the trails of Theodore Wirth Park.

KATHLEEN LAURILA, MINNEAPOLIS

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