Readers Write (Oct. 5): Shane Bauer, Harvest Prep, BWCA fire, Minnehaha Creek, breast cancer marketing

Commentary writer Jonathan Gurwitz ("Free at last, he blames America first," Oct. 1) attempts to whitewash atrocities committed by the United States by mentioning that military personnel at Guantanamo Bay wear clean gloves when handling the Qur'an.

He conveniently fails to mention allegations of Qur'an abuse early on at Guantanamo, as well as detainee abuse corroborated by reports written by FBI agents.

Shane Bauer is correct to challenge U.S. conduct -- especially in light of the depraved abuses of Abu Ghraib that were the result of policies that originated at the highest echelons of the Bush Defense Department.

Gurowitz makes light of Bauer's Peace and Conflict Studies degree. Perhaps if more U.S. officials had similar educational backgrounds the reflexive hubris, arrogance and lack of respect for human life that has driven U.S. foreign policy for so long could be substituted for a policy that would provide a far more beneficial outcome for our nation and the world.

GENE CASE, ANDOVER

* * *

I do not want to minimize the accomplishments of the staff at Harvest Preparatory School ("At this school, usual excuses don't apply," Sept. 25). Excellence like this deserves to be praised. However I need to respond to those who believe this kind of accomplishment can happen without adequate funding. Harvest Prep has an average of one teacher for every 19.5 students. At the excellent public high school where I teach, classes this size are rare if not unheard of these days. Not because teachers have gotten raises or extraordinary perks. Not because we're wasting money across the district. But because we'd need something like 50 more teachers to achieve this ratio, and that is a question of funding.

I can only imagine the kind of differentiated instruction and strong relationships teachers at my school could build if we taught an average of 240 students a year instead of 360.

AMY DAHLIN, EDINA

* * *

Maybe it's because I'm old, but I am having a problem understanding all the fuss over this fire. I have now been told that it is going to forever change everyone's BWCA experience. That experience, I guess, is paddling around a lake in a canoe, listening to a loon, building a campfire and communing with the rest of nature. How is this going to be forever changed?

JOHN R. PENAS, WOODBURY

A writer recently submitted a letter in which she fumed over the "$15,000 a foot" paid for land to restore a 1,000-foot stretch of Minnehaha Creek shoreline. It was as if she read the first two lines of the story and got so angry that she just had to write her letter, then and there.

Funny, but I read the whole story. I read the part about the $15 million not buying 1,000 feet of shoreline, but 17 acres that begged for redevelopment. I also read about how tenant payments will offset part of the cost until the leases run out and the buildings are demolished.

Reading on, I also saw how an established tax is paying for this, not some new fee. Finally, I read about how selling a portion of the land when it is cleaned up will recoup a good portion of the $15 million.

Being against creek and wetland restoration is one thing; not reading the whole story and spewing misinformation as a result is another.

JOHN G. MORGAN, BURNSVILLE

As a breast-cancer survivor, I hate the month of October. It has nothing to do with the change of seasons or the first frost. What I can't stand is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Really, I support breast cancer awareness.

About 250,000 people will be diagnosed with this disease this year, and almost 40,000 will die. We need awareness -- and well-funded research. What I hate is the use of death and disease as a marketing tool.

"Cause marketing" is the official strategy by which we are offered everything from pink-ribbon T-shirts, ball caps and dust mops to pink-ribbon shaped bagels, rebates on sticky yogurt lids and overpriced pink kitchen appliances.

But this year, the marketers have outdone themselves. There's a billboard along Interstate 35W in Burnsville advertising a pink breast cancer awareness garbage can. Picture that large curbside container we roll out once a week colored a pretty pink. Sorry, my blue one gets grungy enough.

With the best of intentions, friends have given me pink-ribbon teddy bears, pink-ribbon socks and pink-ribbon angels. Perhaps a penny or two from each item goes toward cancer research. More likely, it is just a strategy to increase sales. To donate money for breast cancer, write a check.

* * *

An Oct. 3 commentary incorrectly described Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard Around the World" as a two-run homer.

Actually, Thomson hit an 0-1 pitch for a three-run homer off Ralph Branca, with Clint Hartung (running for the injured Don Mueller) and Whitey Lockman scoring ahead of Thomson from third base and second base, respectively.