Open Forum

The recent ATV ditch damage survey, conducted by hard-working, honest and professional county employees, should and would have easily discovered damage if it were anywhere near as bad as described in an earlier opinion here. If you want to find something bad enough, you probably could in any case. But, if you have to look that hard, and at a certain time, to see what is claimed to be so obvious then it must not be as bad as described.

Insinuating that the county isn't really interested in getting a true picture of alleged ATV damage also makes no sense. Why would the workers not be interested if the alleged damage were as bad as the author alludes to? Many of those same people who did the inspections more than likely live in the county and stand to gain nothing by overlooking the alleged damage. One can only wonder...what are the motivations of the accuser?

Ken Johnson

Minneapolis

We need a Walter Cronkite

The president continues in his efforts to bamboozle the public in his misbegotten invasion of Iraq. Al Neuharth, founder of USA Today and a decorated Combat Infantryman in World War II, said in a recent column, "The crucial difference between Vietnam and Iraq is that there is no Walter Cronkite to call Bush's bluff. Without a strong, trusted, non-political voice, too many of us remain Bush-blinded. Bush tried keeping the wool over our eyes again Tuesday on national TV by repeatedly tying Iraq to 9/11. That charge is as phony as his discredited pre-war claim that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction."

Senator Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska said, "The White House is completely disconnected from reality."

There is an appalling lack of outrage over the dreadful toll of dead and wounded and the awful cost of some $5 billion a month.

"The price of apathy toward public affairs is to be ruled by evil men" -- Plato.

John Niedenfuer

Deeerwood

Let's get a new crop of politicians

It seems it's politics as usual. The government shut down, workers were laid off and services were suspended. Yet the legislators continued to be compensated every day for not completing their work on time. I hope the voters keep this fresh in their minds until the next election comes around. Let's get a whole new crop in. It's sad to see the state government getting in as bad a shape as the federal government.

Julie Pawlak

Hackensack

Secure loose items in truck beds

Did someone out there lose a bucket out of the back of their truck on Tuesday morning? It would have been on 371, the block between College Drive and 210. I just thought I would let you know that said bucket placed my father in the hospital.

Please people, secure the items in your truck beds. My dad is going to be OK but it could have easily turned out much worse.

Katie Gunderson

Brainerd

Put national security above politics

In October of 2003, the White House, in a statement regarding the Valerie Plame affair, said that "if anyone in this administration was responsible for the leaking of classified information, they would no longer work in this administration." President Bush himself said, "If there is a leak out of my administration . . . the person will be taken care of."

Apparently, he didn't mean it.

Assuming that Karl Rove was indeed responsible for the leak, which the investigators will determine, his was not only an illegal act; it was an act of treason. Former President George H.W. Bush calls people who do such things "the most insidious of traitors," for whom he has "nothing but contempt and anger" (April, 1999). President Bush should make good on his word: he should revoke Rove's security clearances, fire him, and see that he is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But if the White House statement of July 12 that Rove "has the confidence of the president" is any indication, that won't happen.

We need leadership that does not put itself and its petty politics above national security. As the greatest nation on Earth, we must demand nothing less.

David Holloway

Moorhead