Readers Write for Wednesday, April 22, 2009

I find it disturbing that, after a confrontation between Minneapolis School Board Member Chris Stewart and Burroughs Elementary Principal Tim Cadotte, only Cadotte was placed on leave (Star Tribune, April 21). Apparently, Cadotte's defense of his school's program, dedicated to assisting our Spanish-speaking population, offended Stewart, who considered it racist against African-American students.

Remember that just two years ago, a Star Tribune editorial called for Stewart's resignation for posting a website disparaging Independence Party congressional candidate Tammy Lee with racist and sexist rhetoric.

Let's be clear. The benefit of the doubt should go to Cadotte, whose history of building a superior performing public school within a significantly underperforming district considerably outweighs that of Stewart, whose most prolific legacy is committing the vile acts for which he accuses Cadotte and the Burroughs Elementary Site Council.

JIM MOORE, MINNEAPOLIS

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I don't know Principal Cadotte, and I don't know Board Member Stewart. Perhaps both men have personal agendas coloring their approach toward education, a subject then best left for parents, the school and the district to discuss in a civil manner.

However, as a longtime resident of southwest Minneapolis, I am quite familiar with Burroughs School and the pride in it demonstrated by parents, faculty and staff, as well as the neighborhood community, who appreciate its focused higher standards and see it as a model of success in educating Minneapolis public schools children.

JAMES BOYER, MINNEAPOLIS

Skeptics claim that the April 15 tea parties held all across America were not grass-roots, not home-grown. Tell that to the 38 people who met on the steps of the county courthouse in Grand Marais, Minn.

We came together on the strength of a last-minute letter to the editor in the local newspaper, written by a few local people who felt strongly about the direction in which our country is heading.

We were a diverse group, but we were sincere and were not organized by any TV personalities or politicians. During the hourlong demonstration, we shared our concerns and listened politely to one another. We were nonpartisan but strongly united in our apprehensions.

So, when I tuned in a major network news program that evening and heard the nationwide "tea party" protests described as possibly organized by some TV personalities and/or politicians, I was stunned. My small-town protest, along with thousands of others, was dismissed and demeaned with a few untrue sentences.

I'm not trying to spoil anyone's breakfast, but as an engineer, I think some discussion of forces is appropriate when discussing the bill making car seats mandatory for children up to age 8.

The lap belt is supposed to cross the hip bones to spread and dissipate the crash force over them instead of the soft abdominal tissues (intestines, arteries, etc). The shoulder belt is supposed to cross the collarbone and breast bone to spread the force over them instead of the soft tissues (arteries, windpipe, etc) of the neck. Without a booster seat, the belts are too high on the body and across the soft tissues described above.

So what happens when a child is not in a booster seat: The crash impact drives the lap belt through soft abdominal tissues causing damage and internal bleeding, and may reach the spinal column, damaging or possibly severing it. The shoulder belt moves through the windpipe and arteries, causing breathing problems and internal bleeding, and may reach the spinal column, also possibly severing it. Not using the seat belt is worse, because then the head (the heaviest object) moves forward and hits the nearest hard surface, and the force is transmitted to the brain.

For lack of a $15 booster seat or to allow carpooling the T-ball team, are parents willing to risk killing or crippling their child?

C.L. BAUER, MAPLE GROVE

I am a conservative Republican who feels my grandchildren will be buried beneath this administration's mountain of debt and am of the opinion my work ethic should be spread around -- not my wealth.

All my life I have evidently had the wrong assessment of myself. According to the Office of Homeland Security, it has now all become very clear: I am now considered a domestic right-wing extremist.

BOB MAGINNIS, EDINA

I appreciated the April 18 story "When longtime marriages fall apart." However, the lead sentence perpetuated the unfortunate myth of a 50 percent divorce rate.

Pollster Louis Harris has written, "The idea that half of American marriages are doomed is one of the most specious pieces of statistical nonsense ever perpetuated in modern times." He explains, "It all began when the Census Bureau noted that during one year, there were 2.4 million marriages and 1.2 million divorces. Someone did the math without calculating the 54 million marriages already in existence, and presto, a ridiculous but quotable statistic was born."