Business deserved more attention The article relating the presentation of the 2008 Small Business of the Year Award to Burnsville's Permac Industries (South Extra, April 23) should have appeared on the front page of the Business section and not have been buried on page two of the South Extra section. It was no small feat for Permac to win this award when one considers that it was competing against tens of thousands of small businesses across the nation. Congrats to Darlene Miller and her 42 employees! Let it be known that I have no affiliation whatsoever with the company except that I live in Burnsville, one of the great "burbs" of Minneapolis.

THE REV. THEODORE FILANDRINOS, BURNSVILLE

LRT necessary? Is the Central Corridor light rail really "critical" to metro transportation, as its proponents repeatedly insist? To answer this question, I want to know precisely how much time riding an electric train on rails is going to save over riding an express bus route (50 and 50S) that serves the same exact route. Presumably, if both have approximately the same number of station stops, and have to negotiate the same number of traffic lights, what exactly is to be gained by throwing down millions of dollars on tracks, stations, gates, and power poles? If potential passengers need something prettier to pry them out of their personal vehicles and get them into public transportation, then spend a million or so on dressing up the buses and adding coffee and tea service, if you have to. But let's save our rail and station dollars for routes that are likelier to have meaningful impact on traffic congestion.

C. MANNHEIM, APPLE VALLEY

NWA employees suffer from reports In trying times like these for me and fellow NWA Inc. employees, it is hard to keep a positive attitude and brave face for the world outside of NWA. Try as we might, we are constantly faced with negative, incorrect, erroneous "facts" regarding our employees and the company itself.

Please keep in mind the unsettling presence we will be facing on a daily basis until all is said and done, when concocting your perhaps biased articles regarding our livelihood. This is our life as we've known it thus far -- and are proud of our contributions servicing the community. Please do not cheapen our efforts by reporting falsely.

KAREN GUETTLER, EAGAN

No more free DVDs I know these aren't huge dollars but think of how much taxpayer money could be saved if government didn't "invest" our money in stupid stuff like free DVD rentals at our public libraries? An article in the Strib revealed that the major public libraries in the metro area own over 269,000 or around $2 million in DVDs that they acquire, store, catalog and issue for ... free? As one local columnist often says " don't tell me government doesn't have enough of our money."

CRAIG VANDERAH, PRIOR LAKE

To save gas, lower the speed limit There seems to be so much ballyhooing about alternative energy sources for automobiles to cut down on the gasoline consumption. There is a proven way to reduce fuel consumption with very little investment: Lower the speed limit to 55 mph on all major road systems. No one seems to remember the first big gasoline price hike in the late '70s. The government responded by lowering the speed limit to 55 mph on all roads. This actually decreased the amount of gasoline consumed. I don't have anything against research into cleaner alternative fuels, but every system proposed so far requires carbon consumption. Until we can actually reduce the amount of fuel consumed by vehicles, we will be fighting an uphill battle with energy. Reducing the speed limit will only cost drivers a little more time, and that is a free commodity. And the major side effect is the saving of lives being snuffed out by high-speed accidents.

JOHN GEORGE, NORTHFIELD