Readers Write (Oct. 11): Adrian Peterson, Muslims and the Hajj, Ebola, school funding, lead ammunition, judicial races

Amazing how topsy-turvy our legal system is, when someone can stay out of jail and continue to receive millions of dollars for four months of not working when accused of beating a toddler bloody — but very probably will lose all that freedom and money for smoking something that makes one both pleasant and harmless ("Pot could send Peterson to jail," Oct. 10).

If Adrian Peterson had been smoking legal marijuana when his two kids were arguing, he'd never have gotten himself into this jam. Instead, he would have mildly rebuked them for "harshing his mellow" and gone into another room. That 4-year-old child would have been a whole lot better off, and so would the rest of us.

In reference to "Westerners can learn from the Hajj" (Opinion Exchange, Oct. 8), equally laudatory articles could have been written about the peacefulness of Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians and others. But in all those cultures, as with many Muslims of today, the peaceful people are irrelevant. It is the militants who foment unrest, dredge up grievances, and incite some of the populace to maraud, plunder, rape, murder and wage war time after time. We ignore the threats to our country at our peril. Would that it were not so.

The Oct. 9 letter "CDC isn't doing enough to protect U.S. from outbreak" was insightful. The writer's solution of quarantining people from affected countries was not.

People who have the resources and want to flee affected areas will find ways to arrive. Quarantining those from only such regions would therefore not work.

Importantly, the letter writer cited the issue of jihadists self-infecting, then spreading the disease. Only one such individual would have to be successful in getting through, since "cells" of sympathizers exist. This is an ugly scenario.

The critical and hopefully successful solution is to develop effective medications and/or protective immunization as quickly as possible. This should have been an extremely well-funded undertaking the past several decades, but it does not appear to have been the case.

The recent flurry of proposed levies in School District 197 (West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan) has caused me to look at the state of the school district as a whole. What I found can be summed up in one word — horrifying.

The current district budget of $73 million, and student cost of $15,500 per child, is steep. But the issue for me is not just the proposed cost of the levies, but the unbelievably bad results these schools are reporting. The district's students have a reading proficiency of 59 percent and math proficiency of 54 percent (2013 MCA report). The salt in the wound: While the statistics would suggest a crisis in the classrooms, one of the proposed three levies is to fund a $4.5 million football stadium. Yep, that's right — half of the kids in the district can't read or perform basic math, but the district's priority is a new football stadium.

No, I'm certainly not against youth sports. No, I don't mind paying my fair share of taxes. But the alarming results, high costs and lack of accountability demonstrated by District 197 have caused me to urge anyone voting on these levies not to spend another dime until we can come to a reasonable and transparent plan.

In the Oct. 3 article "Wildlife experts think hunters should consider nontoxic copper," I was disappointed to read that activists are once again railing against traditional ammunition.

As the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will tell you, there have been no documented cases of lead poisoning in humans by eating wild game. Wild game harvested with traditional ammunition is safe, and to say otherwise is nothing but a scare tactic.

Using lead ammunition is safe, so why does this issue get so much press each fall? What is the ultimate goal of traditional ammo critics?

There are some who would like to see all hunting and guns completely gone. They obviously can't say or do these things outright in states like Minnesota, a state proud of its hunting heritage, so they must weaken our traditions. They chip away at them slowly, and they start with traditional ammunition.

Increasingly, partisan politics has been creeping into judicial elections, including this one. We are particularly alarmed by elements of the extreme right who would undermine the nonpartisan nature of judicial election with their socially conservative agenda. This is not only unacceptable, but it threatens to substitute group rights over the individual rights of the voters — which poses a danger to all of us.

The nonpartisan preference poll of attorneys conducted by the Hennepin County Bar Association serves as an endorsement of those judicial candidates with the experience and courage to withstand the pressure of politics.

Amy Dawson, who began practicing law in 1992 at the prestigious law firm of Faegre & Benson and has founded the Autism Advocacy & Law Center, has not only the legal experience, but also the commitment to serve all people. That is why she won the Hennepin County Bar Association preference poll and is our recommendation for service on the Hennepin County District Court.