 |
|
| |
Published: March 4, 1995
Section: NEWS
Page#: 16A
LETTERS from READERS
Star sat on bench
There is a deeper story behind Minneapolis Community College's victory on the basketball court. MCC won the community college state tournament, losing only one game this year. In that loss, one star player sat on the bench.
Coach Jay Pivec, that player and an academic counselor had signed a contract: if the player missed class, or was late, he wouldn't play the next game. After he walked into my class 15 minutes late, I tattled on him. True to promise, he didn't play. MCC lost that game, the last of the regular season, but won the state tournament where this player pulled in an award for outstanding play.
In a time when winning seems to be everything, and perfect records are so prized, Coach Pivec's care for this young man's future should give us all pause. Pivec wanted a perfect record, too, and surely didn't like refusing the player's howling entreaties. But years from now, I believe this student will remember what his coach was trying to teach him.
In risking a perfect season by benching a star player this coach made things right. And in that way, a season more than perfect.
Phil Martin, St. Paul.
Messy and costly
It is easy to understand why the liberal legislators of this country are so against a cost-benefit requirement for new federal legislation. After 40 years of Democratic control of the House, the last thing the liberals want is for the taxpaying masses to know the true economic impact of federal sausagemaking.
Denny Modlin, Plymouth.
MinnesotaCare a success
Strengthening working families is important; so is protecting taxpayers. The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS), which administers MinnesotaCare, works hard to make sure the program uses tax dollars responsibly, as a recent internal audit demonstrates.
Given the department's vigilance in ensuring a sound program, I was disappointed that your paper recently printed an Associated Press story pointing to this audit as an indictment of our effectiveness. In fact, these biannual audits are a tool that help us take aggressive steps to become more effective.
The success of this management tool was borne out immediately in the significant reduction in error rates from the first set of data collected to the next set of data collected for the most recent audit. The latest audit shows that 14.7 percent of the 737 cases were not eligible for the program, compared with 19.8 percent in the first audit.
The audit found that most of these errors were honest mistakes, not an attempt to cheat the system. (Five cases were fraudulent.) For example, to be eligible for MinnesotaCare, applicants can not have had access to employer-subsidized health insurance for 18 months. Some applicants may have held a number of jobs during that time and either didn't know or didn't remember if benefits were offered.
MinnesotaCare is a success. A recent examination of the program by a University of Minnesota researcher shows that it is targeting the right people, is not eroding the private insurance market, and is allowing families to purchase health insurance they couldn't otherwise afford. Taxpayers benefit from MinnesotaCare as well. An estimated 2,400 fewer families are on AFDC because they are enrolled in MinnesotaCare and don't need to quit their jobs in order to get health care for their children. That translates into total welfare savings of approximately $1.8 million per month.
More than ever, every taxpayer dollar counts. DHS will continue to work diligently to ensure MinnesotaCare uses precious financial resources wisely.
Maria R. Gomez, St. Paul, Minnesota commissioner of Human Services.
True immorality
The budget-cutting Republicans in Congress like to talk about morality, but they seem to use a strange definition of the term.
What kind of morality is it to slash programs for the most vulnerable citizens and not even to mention cutting welfare subsidies for the oil industry, welfare subsidies for the mining industry, welfare subsidies for the timber industry, welfare subsidies for the beef industry, and welfare subsidies for the tobacco industry, to name but five. To take funding from the poor and weak, and then to bestow vast sums of public money on people who neither need nor deserve it strikes some of us as immorality in flagrant form.
Ray Warner, Edina.
Outdoors with the vultures
State legislators who want to cut mosquito control funds (Star Tribune, Feb. 26) may be out after traffic lights next. "After all, traffic isn't all that bad. Why do we need to spend all that money on stop and go lights?"
Cutting back the funding of the Mosquito Control District would be fine for people who like to stay inside with their air conditioners on during our three-month growing season, but it will be awful for us gardeners. Most civilized nations keep mosquitoes out of big cities; we should do the same in the Twin Cities.
W.C. Rogers, president, Minnesotans Against Mosquitoes Association, Minneapolis.
Don't censor hate speech
Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon are to be congratulated for their timely and cogent essay on the rise of the radical right in talk radio (Commentary, Feb. 24). As disturbing as this trend may be, we must diligently protect freedom of speech and expression for all citizens.
I have faith in the First Amendment. I firmly believe that as listeners are exposed to an ever-increasing diet of vitriol, bigotry and hate, the true agenda of Rush Limbaugh, G. Gordon Liddy and the rest will become clear. Don't censor these people. Listen to them, and listen very closely to what their vision of America is. It will shock you, it will frighten you, and, most important, it will motivate you to fight even harder to protect liberty and justice for all Americans.
Drew W. Jansen, Golden Valley.
Goodman gets the drift
"Honey, come quick," I gasped. "Ellen Goodman says Madonna and TV are selling teens on sex without consequences!"
This is news? While it may surprise Goodman, there are many who have known this for a long, long time. It seems that since sex education programs, safe-sex programs and school-based clinic programs don't seem to be working she's suddenly become aware that the culture might be part of the problem. And now she wants Hollywood to gear up and become allies? She underestimates teenagers. How long do you think it will take them to see through the hypocrisy of the "cultural elite" telling teenagers to do one thing when every day in their lives the elite are doing the exact opposite?
Instead of waiting for Hollywood to change its message, give them a clear signal that will get their attention much faster than anything Ellen Goodman or Congress can offer. Don't watch their TV, don't go to their movies, and don't buy their music. Adult actions will speak louder than any "preaching" we do. Oh, by the way, if Goodman wants to hear the truth about sex stated "unequivocally in rhythm, rap or reel," she should take a walk to her local Christian bookstore, They're way ahead of her.
Elizabeth Ames, Oak Park.
Grow up, legislators
What is this world coming to when part-time legislators who earn more than $30,000 a year (including per diem) cannot afford to go out and have a little fun? Do what the rest of us in the real world who earn less than $30,000 a year and work full time do. We go out and pay for our movies, or drinks, or dinner with our own money. To those of you in the Minnesota Legislature, grow up and join the real world.
T.C. Renfors, Sandstone, Minn.
| |
|
