Readers Write: The VP debate, immigration, mispronouncing names, Minnehaha Dog Park, grandmas

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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OMG! Substantive, intelligent, civil discourse on the issues? Who’da thought. Kudos to candidates Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance, and to CBS for a job well done.

Ron Elsner, Coon Rapids

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If you determine winning or losing a debate on style, Vance won. If you determine it on substance, Walz ran away with it. Vance, smarmy and almost oily, is a practiced debater, but in backing the Trump doctrine showed himself to readily accept the falsehoods of his mentor. Walz, on the other hand, although clearly nervous in this milieu, was truthful and intense, except for his stumble over Tiananmen Square. But he scored the knockout of the night when asking if Vance would accept the results of the 2020 election.

Bottom line: VPs don’t win elections. Vice President Kamala Harris’ coherence, when compared to former President Donald Trump’s incoherence, should leave little choice for thinking voters.

Alan Miller, Eagan

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During the vice presidential debate, Vance was the smooth operator. He looked good and spoke well. But a nice suit and smooth words don’t diminish the fact that Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election that Joe Biden won. When the commentator asked Vance if he believed Trump’s election lies, he changed the subject and wouldn’t answer. Vance already said that if he had been vice president instead of Mike Pence, he would not have certified the election and would have illegally installed Trump as president.

Walz was not the most polished speaker, but he is an honest man who would uphold a free and fair election and the peaceful transfer of power.

Harris and Walz respect free and fair elections and the peaceful transfer of power. They would protect my vote. Trump and Vance would throw it away.

Sandy Edlund, Eden Prairie

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In the debate Tuesday night, Walz once again showed his ignorance of the abortion law he signed in 2023. Minnesota is one of nine states that allow abortion anytime prior to birth. And he lied about his presence at Tiananmen Square, which created an awkward moment for him toward the end of the debate. Vance seemed much more presidential and able to articulate and reinforce the issues of most concern to Americans, which the Biden administration has failed to resolve in the last three and a half years, namely, inflation, immigration and the economy.

Richard Foley, Edina

Immigrants are not a “problem.”

I feel this needs to be said after a year of breathless coverage of a “migrant crisis” that has turned into the ugliest attacks on human life imaginable, culminating in the somehow popular suggestion of “mass deportations” of people living in this country illegally.

We’ve seen something like this before in America: the military rounding up people in a supposedly peaceful attempt to move people en masse to force them to live somewhere else. It was called the Trail of Tears.

Every forced mass migration in the history of the world has resulted in mass death and disease. And yet it’s become a socially acceptable idea that people who cross an invisible line without the proper paperwork are so lacking in humanity that their health and safety as human beings is secondary to our desire to force them out of their homes.

And make no mistake: The people clamoring for mass deportations are not concerned with the actual majority of “illegals,” who came to this country legally but let their visas expire. They care about the people who cross the southern border (never the northern one, interestingly), and falsely blame them for everything from crime to fentanyl to housing prices.

Our politicians, our media, our neighbors — we all need to stop and consider the devastation we’ve been treating as sound policy and counter this rhetoric as loudly and forcefully as possible, before it’s too late.

Christian Hagen, Minneapolis

As I read Sheletta Brundidge’s column “Black names matter. So, say them right!” I was taken aback when I realized I was one of the people she called out. I was one of the people who laughed along with the old sports radio hosts when they ran their bit on player names. I was ignorant and unthinking.

Several years ago, I heard Keegan-Michael Key talk about the “Mr. Garvey” sketch he had cowritten for the Key & Peele show. Key spoke of the importance of and the pride taken in a name. He spoke of how enslaved people had their names taken and replaced. Hearing him speak made me feel ashamed. It made me think of how my name had always been my own and never been mispronounced or made fun of in a way that was meant to belittle me.

From that point, I opted to try and do better. I have come to believe that respect for a human being begins with respect for their name. I am now a pharmacist. I meet patients every day who have names that might not be seen as traditionally American. Each time I speak with a patient, I introduce myself and make sure that I pronounce their name correctly. That small show of respect has rewarded me over and over with the feeling of some small connection to the people I serve.

For my part, I apologize to Brundidge and Faith Johnson Patterson for my past indiscretions. I have tried to do better, and I hope others will do the same.

Phil Loveless, Golden Valley

I write as a weekly volunteer crew leader at Coldwater Spring, a National Park Service property, to applaud the plan to fully fence the nearby Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board dog park (“Fencing plan approved for dog park,” Oct. 2).

Many responsible dog owners walking through Coldwater and adjacent state and federal properties follow the posted rules and leash their dogs. Some do not, treating the entire area as a dog park.

Dogs running loose intimidate some of our volunteers who do habitat restoration work here year-round. They chase animals. They leave droppings. They dig in culturally sensitive areas. And their owners largely ignore us when we remind them that dogs must be leashed under federal and state regulations.

These irresponsible owners are the reason that the dog park needs to be fully enclosed.

Steve Brandt, Minneapolis

The writer is president of the Minneapolis Board of Estimate and Taxation and a retired Star Tribune reporter.

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The Minnehaha Dog Park is a beloved public area used by hundreds, perhaps thousands, of dog owners and hikers. We all value the experience of wilderness within the city where we can walk mazy trails for hours with our unleashed dogs. There is simply no other place like it. The Minneapolis Park Board has been vague in answering our objections and rushed this process through with no stakeholder engagement. This is utterly ridiculous in a functioning democracy and not a good look for public officials supported by our tax dollars.

Managerialist nonsense! Let us engage nature as we have been doing for many years!

Michelle Garens, Minneapolis

A delighted thank-you to Nelson Cardenas and Paul Waytz for the lovely commentary “Google or AI might help you diagnose, but maybe Grandma knows best” (Strib Voices, Sept. 30). I am a Luddite with a capital “L,” and although I occasionally use Google, it definitely cannot hug my grandchildren or tuck them in (although mine are well beyond the tuck-in stage)!

Much appreciated,

Grandma Sharri, aka Sharri Kinkead, Hudson, Wis.