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West metro letters

March 26, 2008 at 5:49AM

Cut school employees' pay

A message to all school boards, school administrators and union members:

If you are looking for a tried and true method to reduce expenses in your school district, do what many struggling employers in the private sector are forced to do -- roll back wages and salaries for everyone, from top to bottom, union and non-union alike.

A 10 percent pay reduction is not going to result in your family going hungry. And those of you who come back with how rosy it is in the private sector -- put your money where your mouth is and give it a try.

While the "golden goose" is not dead, based on recent referendum trends, it is on life support. Show some character, courage and leadership and give it a try. How many teachers' jobs would be saved? After all, it is all about the children, right?

DARWIN WILDE, MAPLE GROVE

Can governor defend us against ruts in road? In regards to the governor's efforts to loosen the rules for shooting intruders:

After driving between Buffalo, Minneapolis and St. Cloud on a recent weekend, dodging as many potholes as possible and riding up and down on some "sweet jumps" and into the dips and across the crevices, I suggest perhaps our governor could concern himself more with filling the holes in our roads than with how to put holes in people.

PAUL J. THINESEN, BUFFALO

Homeowners must sleep in the beds they've made So today we read about a couple who is not wanting to pay a mortgage that doesn't benefit them. This kind of logic is partially to blame for the current mortgage crisis.

No one forced anyone to refinance their home to a point where they could no longer afford their payment. To simply "walk away" from this obligation should be a crime, not a solution.

KATHY KIENTZLE, EDEN PRAIRIE

Time to take responsibility The article, "Houses left behind to pay car, credit bills," shows why the government should stay out of the foreclosure mess that people and banks have gotten themselves into.

It wasn't too long ago that people had the responsibility to pay bills, with the priority being food, clothing and their home. The money they had left over went to investments and pleasure.

People today think the government owes them something, and their priorities are vacations, toys, cell phones, entertainment centers, cars, etc.

The time has come for people to take responsibility for what they do.

PETER KLICK, MAPLE GROVE

A traffic camera solution Turn photocop back on and send out the pictures as warnings. Then, once in a while, put an unmarked police car on the corner, too. The real cop, backed up by photocop, can stop the offender and issue a ticket.

The warning photos publicize the program to the people most likely to offend. The drivers are ticketed, legally. Random enforcement tells them they can never be quite sure they'll get away with running a light again. Randomness also keeps costs lower.

Eventually, there may be a clean technological or legal solution to this issue. Until then, we could make our intersections safer without putting a cop on every corner.

JOHN WIDEN, MINNEAPOLIS

Wearing each other out I have been watching the Democratic presidential race with all the glee of a rabid basketball fan watching the NCAA tourney. I am seeing a No. 10 seed take the No. 1 seed all the way to quadruple overtime in a very bruising, physical game.

The winner of No. 1 vs. No. 10 will have to play my team the next day. The Democratic winner (apparently the No. 10 seed) will be so beaten, tired and flat that he can't get up for the next round.

I don't think the Democratic winner will have the legs to advance.

JAY HUYCK, MAPLE GROVE

Bar patrons responding to smoking ban's tyranny If the intent of the Minnesota smoking ban was to improve indoor air quality, the law would have been written in terms of an air-quality standard and not a smoking ban.

With their participation in "theater nights," bars are using the letter of the law to protest the spirit of the law behind the state's five-month-old indoor smoking ban.

When the spirit of the law is tyranny, civil disobedience will surely follow.

LOWELL JOHNSON. BLOOMINGTON