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Most of the recent letters to the Star Tribune about Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty miss the point regarding the brains of young people being immature until they are 25. The writers imply Moriarty is claiming this brain immaturity as her reason for not charging a 15- and 17-year-old for murder as adults. But that is not the case at all: In her short time in office, she has signed off on five charges of minors in adult court.

Instead, she is talking only about rehabilitation after jail. On the one hand, society can send minors to adult prison for a decade or more, where, says almost all research, they are likelier than not to become more practiced antisocial criminals. Or we can send minors to juvenile incarceration and a guided probation afterward that more likely — again according to research — will help them become productive members of society. If they violate that probation, then we can put them in adult prison.

She also is saying she is glad to listen to pretrial investigative reports and consider each case on its merits. Clearly she is not giving young psychopaths a free ticket out of jail. Neither should society force her to send troubled children to adult prison, where they will be turned into functional psychopaths set loose, eventually, upon us all.

Richard Jewell, Minneapolis

University of Minnesota College of Education Dean Emeritus Jean K. Quam makes the case for outgoing U President Joan Gabel's having done "a job well done" in addressing the very stressful COVID challenge ("A thank you to President Joan Gabel," Opinion Exchange, April 18).

Prof. Quam may well be right in drawing attention to Gabel's leadership under such trying circumstances. However, that is expected of the president of a major university. Also expected is knowing the lay of the land, i.e., that the university is very dependent on good relations with the Legislature, and that getting a possibly cushy and well-paid board position with a key provider of services to the U is a huge conflict of interest.

Million-dollar university presidents must be able to chew gum and walk at the same time, even when blindsided by the unexpected. The red herring of misogyny aside ("I am not sure if the same criticism would have existed for a male president"), isn't the U president given a job description, and some sage advice, that includes the more subtle expectations of the job, and isn't the U president required to put in whatever time it takes to address such problems?

Bob Meyerson, Atwater, Minn.

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As the regents consider candidates for a new president, they need to first look at internal candidates from the eight university admitting colleges and five graduate schools. The most reliable and talented of all recent presidents were Robert Bruininks and Nils Hasselmo — both hired from within.

Resist the temptation for a splashy hire after a long search and instead select a new president who has been here a while, shown loyalty to the U and may even not demand the continued compensation adjustments sought by an in-demand, splashy hire.

Keith Summers, Wayzata

I find it a little hard to believe that after the near-daily parade of articles documenting American gun violence in the news sections of the paper, a features article can uncritically report on the perks of raffling off guns at community fundraising events ("Unusual? Bingo!" Variety, April 16). Given that the U.S. has the highest number of guns and guns per capita in the world and the highest rate of gun-related violence and death among developed countries, the wisdom of increasing access to firearms, even for a good cause, should at the very least be questioned.

Sergio Francis M. Zenisek, Minneapolis

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Unusual? Really? That's not the word I've been hearing as I've related this story to friends, family and relatives living in the Glencoe/Hutchinson area. Rather, their responses displayed shock, dismay, horror. "They're giving handguns as prizes? That's absurd."

I'm saddened to think what my hardworking farmer father would have said. He owned one shotgun, which I never saw him use. He would have been appalled. He might have shook his head and called them fools, about the strongest expletive he ever used. I'm glad my father is not around to witness this foolishness. I'm sorry the rest of us have to see it. I am appalled, saddened and embarrassed to see the goings on in the area I once called my home.

Maryann Nieberle Weidt, Minneapolis

They come to me carrying plastic book bins, with their names neatly written in large print on the outside. Every Tuesday morning at the elementary school nearest my house, I sit in a storage area off from the classroom, and one by one each first-grader comes to me with their bin of self-selected books, and we read together.

This is an initiative called VESL (Volunteers for Elementary School Literacy) developed by the Rotary Club in Stillwater. It is a delightful way to spend an hour or more, reinforcing reading in this early stage when reading is a new, exciting adventure.

In an April 16 commentary ("If Cuba can eradicate illiteracy, Minnesota certainly can"), a very grim outlook was portrayed for those 500,000 students who never learn to read properly. According to the article, these students are much more likely to drop out of school or end up in some interface with the juvenile court.

No doubt spending 15 minutes or so reading books with a first-grader is not going to make them lifelong readers, but I am only one of a cluster at this school who comes and does this, and other schools in District 834 have a squadron of mostly retired adults who help kids practice their reading. The program continues to expand, and there are other programs like Reading Partners that can have an impact on improving literacy as well. As with the Cuban model that was so successful in eradicating illiteracy, volunteers would make up the bulk of literacy support. There are enough of us retired boomers around to create a fleet of reading enforcers and truly have an impact on literacy in our state. It will probably only take a background check to support these young readers.

If you have the time, I highly recommend you look into a way to get involved in reinforcing literacy in your community. It is doable and a delightful way to make a difference.

Peggy Ludtke, Stillwater

I have news for the writer of the "litter" letter (Readers Write, April 15). The littered landscape we both detest is not caused by people, for the most part. It's mostly from the launching and distribution of trash over the tops of sanitation trucks when they lift and catapult the big metal dumpsters into their trucks. Once spilled from the truck, if not retrieved, it all flies away — everywhere the wind goes.

My experience is that most people make an effort to clean up their outdoor litter. When public litter baskets are full, trash piles up right next to the basket and then it, too, goes wind-borne.

The letter writer's suggestion that convicts help pick up the litter across the landscape is one way to clean it up. But a serious redesign of the sanitation trucks to keep the trash from flying away in the first place will save a ton of cleanup next year, not to mention the extra plastic bags needed to collect it all.

Sarah Renner, Minneapolis