Readers Write (Sept. 10): DFL/Trump ballot lawsuit, noisy public meetings, Jacob Wetterling case, Peavey Plaza, Minneapolis Commons

The DFL Party is petitioning the Minnesota Supreme Court to remove Trump/Pence from the state's presidential ballot (front page, Sept. 9). I'm not sure the DFL has thought the results of this action through. If the lawsuit is successful, it will liberate a lot of voters who are voting for Hillary Clinton only as a "lesser evil." Once there is no longer a need to stop Donald Trump, those voters can cast a positive, values-oriented vote instead of a negative vote that is based on fear. If the petition is successful, the possibility of a third-party candidate winning Minnesota's 10 electoral votes become much greater. Those votes could be the difference in electing a President Trump. Then the Democratic Party can blame the Minnesota DFL for electing Trump the same way it vilified Ralph Nader for electing George W. Bush in 2000. What irony!

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I almost fell off my chair laughing after I read about the DFL trying to block Trump from the Minnesota ballot. In the past 10 elections, the state voted for the Democratic nominee. It was the only state to vote for Walter Mondale! The last time it voted for a Republican was for Richard Nixon in 1972. Surely, the DFL has more important things to do.

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It's a trap, and the Democrats fell for it. Regardless of the outcome, Trump wins. If the court rules him off the ballot, it sustains his argument that the election is rigged. If it allows him to stay on the ballot, it also sustains that argument, and reinforces it even more, by pointing to the Democrats themselves as having tried to rig the election by bringing it to the court.

Why did this happen? Because the underlying assumption on the part of Trump's opponents has always been that he is stupid. He is not. The opposite is true. He is a master negotiator, and a negotiator has no greater advantage over his opponents than to give the impression that he is incompetent and stupid. That was the impression of the 16 experienced pols he defeated in the Republican primaries. That's the impression the Democrats had when they brought this elector matter to the court.

Trump has nothing to lose. He couldn't carry Minnesota if he were the only name on the ballot. It would not surprise me to learn that the impetus for this move by the Democrats came from a Trump mole inside the Democratic campaign. As for all Trump's gaffes and misstatements, ask yourself: Are they really gaffes, or has Trump asked himself "Where are the votes?" and come up with an answer different from that of any previous Republican candidate. Instead of chasing minority votes, he chases anti-minority votes, and one has only to look at current polls to see that it is working. Know thine enemy. We are dealing here with the cleverest, most ruthless person ever to seek the presidency.

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The recent disruptions of public meetings should not surprise Minnesota officials. I agree that it's impossible to conduct business under these conditions. Similar mobs rule the Twin Cities' police stations, roadways, schools, transportation, entertainment districts, sporting events, traffic and even the Great Minnesota Get-Together. Public officials now know what teachers, bus drivers and police officers go through every day. Anarchy is not only unchallenged, but alibied away by Twin Cities governments. Get used to "disruption" or suffer the threatened consequences.

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I am writing to respond to the Star Tribune's article reporting the Minneapolis NAACP's demand for an apology from the city's Park Board for removing a number of disruptive individuals from Wednesday's meeting. The individuals removed were heckling the commissioners and interfering with Park Board business. Their removal was a logical consequence of their intentional disruptive behavior.

It would be appropriate for the disrupters to apologize for their bad behavior. Why would they expect the Park Board to apologize to them?

In the past days, I have wept bitter tears for Jacob and for the Wetterlings. I have been amazed at the absolute bravery of Jared Scheierl. And the Sept. 9 counterpoint by Elizabeth J. Letourneau ("After Jacob, we can work even harder to prevent child sex abuse") was helpful and enlightening.

I am disgusted to pay millions for the care of a perpetrator. But I do realize that the perpetrator and victim both came from our collective society. I am, we are all, from the same overall fabric. Difficult lesson.

Maybe our collective goal should be the healthy society that somehow leads to a victimless (and perpetratorless) society.

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A question no one has asked in all of the sadness and horror detailing Jacob Wetterling's abduction and murder is: What turned Danny Heinrich into this terrible person? Once he, too, was an 11-year-old boy. What made him into a monster?

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Given the lack of evidence and the necessary leverage needed by prosecutors, I won't second-guess the plea deal that gave the Wetterlings and the state some much-needed closure. I'm sure the prosecutors did their very best. After serving his 20-year sentence, and civil commitment after that, I'm confident Heinrich won't see another day as a free man in Minnesota.

But by his own admission, we know that he is a psychopathic sexual predator who was willing to murder an 11-year-old boy to escape capture and prosecution. We also know that in the nine months preceding this murder, he kidnapped and sexually assaulted another boy.

Does anybody think that between that time 27 years ago and the day he was finally arrested that he hasn't killed or molested other boys? How many other victims are out there? Now that the Wetterling case has been solved, will we quit looking?

Thank you for the Sept. 5 editorial urging that attention be paid to maintaining the Loring Greenway. Now could you please have a writer stroll through the eyesore that is Peavey Plaza, another example of urban neglect?

Regarding the proposal to allow attendees of certain events to bring and drink alcohol in the park next to the new Vikings stadium ("Alcohol at parks getting a new look," Sept. 5): Didn't Minneapolis tear down half of its downtown to drive out drinking in public by indigent men?