Open Forum

A recent endorsement of Greg Blaine for 12B stated he will be passionately dedicated to individual rights.

I don't know about his other qualifications, but he is strongly anti-choice, so he cannot possibly be a strong supporter of individual rights.

A. Martin

Merrifield

Hockey complaints

I have two sons in grades 5 and 6. Brainerd has been blessed with fantastic BYAA youth coaches. The coaches in these programs are excellent and parents and players enjoy it -- win or lose! Never have I witnessed any type of humiliation, demoralizing or swearing while watching these men interact with our children. Never has a child been told, "You can't play today, but we want you here anyway, because you are a team." All children play equally at this age, as it should be. Many thanks! You are great!

Another sport, however, costs more than $10 for participation. A 12-year-old Pee Wee hockey player (BAHA) costs $325 plus a "fund-raiser" which is $300. An ice facility may require maintenance, but the treatment of children by coaches should remain the same. These players are children, 11 and 12 years old. They should be allowed to have fun and not be "punished" for losing. Recently four players (out of almost 40) were not "allowed" to dress for a practice scrimmage in our own arena! This was a huge disappointment. Even the star players felt empathy and confusion on a decision by coaches -- some who are paid year 'round -- to exclude four children based on their hockey ability. The hurt and embarrassment was inexcusable. Every parent heard about it -- not the outcome of the scrimmage -- but that their own four teammates and good friends could not play but come to watch! Hockey coaches, take a lesson from these other coaches in dealing with children. Look at the whole child. Let go of your own selfish hang-ups about living your "glory days" through your kids. Remember the "Golden Rule" and when you make a decision like you just did -- it may be life-long.

You don't treat people that way and certainly not children. I guess you don't always "get what you pay for" ...

Nikki Johnson

Brainerd

Letter to a thief

This is a letter about the thief or thieves from Oct. 27, 2001 who came on to private property and stole our "God Bless America" sign. And also at the same time took our granddaughter's 4-foot Lemon head man that was used as a marker for her, bus drivers, friends, and our friends and families.

Thanks a lot. I am sure you needed it more than a 6-year-old. I hope you enjoy it very much.

Maria Northway

Nisswa

Brainerd park development

A recent park board meeting had some interesting discussions about future park development for the city of Brainerd.

Evidently, the city of Brainerd is considering two sites in northwest Brainerd. The Piehl property just west of the second curve on McKay Road and the Ahlm property on either side of the Paul Bunyan Trail west of the junction of Wise and Beaver Dam roads.

Citizens of Brainerd, drive by and take a look at these two locations and judge which of the two would be better suited for a recreational park!

At the park board meeting, Chairman Mike Innes stated, "The Piehl property is ready for development immediately due to the physical nature of the parcel, compared to the potentially extensive work that will be necessary to develop the Ahlm site."

City council person Debbie Olander stated, "The Ahlm property had more park appeal with its nature areas."

The Brainerd area has enough camping and wilderness areas.

The Piehls offered a donation of $40,000 off the appraised price of the land, if it were to be used for a "recreational" park.

The city of Brainerd paid $360,000 for the Ahlm property, which is mainly swamp land and has never been fully explored nor has it even been appraised, and is far from sewer and water services.

The Ahlm property was acquired at the period of time when Baxter and Brainerd were both battling to see who could annex the land west of Beaver Dam Road. Brained bought the Ahlm property to use as leverage, at a judicial hearing, trying to persuade an administrative law judge to award the annexation rights to Brainerd.

The Piehl tract is close-in and can be easily monitored.

The park department and park board both favor the Piehl site for future general recreational area.

Roger Piehl

Brainerd

Childish thinking

Do you know why people who say that god or the devil talks to them end up in psychiatric wards, jails, early graves or fantasy books like the Bible or Koran? It is because childish and delusional thinking does not prepare one for the rigors and demands of adult life.

David Brinkman

Brainerd

Are we wimpy?

It has been less than two months since over 6,000 of our fellow Americans and world brothers were massacred in the name of ?

The proponents of Islam say that killing is not Allah's way.

Every day I see my fellow citizens speed up to cut in front of me so they can be 20 feet in front at the traffic light. Does 20 feet in front or 20 feet behind really matter?

We are impetuous and want a quick end to conflict.

Unfortunately, patience is not one of our society's strong points.

We would all like the threat of terrorism to be over tomorrow, or at least the next day. That does not appear to be possible.

I want to see the powers that we elected do their best to get rid of the terrorist threat. We should stay vigilant, go to our jobs, and proceed with our lives.

We will never be free of people who want to destroy us or our free system.

If we bury ourselves in fear, we are doing what the terrorists want us to do. Crawl into a hole and wait for the next catastrophe.

Mark Twain put it well, "I have had many problems, most of which did not come true."

Putting on rose-colored glasses so everything looks fine is not truth.

Living under a dark cloud of fear is not real.

Looking through clear, clean glasses will give us the true perspective of what is.

God bless America and all of us.

John Wiankowski

Rural Brainerd

Rocket scientist

Thanks for the great story of the Pillager football team victory.

I graduated from that little school way back in 1952. I was in your office last summer (July) as I was interviewed by one of your editors/reporters... "The rocket scientist who was in town". I enjoy your website...a great place to catch up on news from my boyhood home.

Ellsworth Gerrels

Sonora, Calif.

Are Catholics fair game?

I am shocked and appalled at the article in your Religion section last Friday (Oct. 26) 'Halloween -- should we or shouldn't we?' by Bob Kemper.

It was misinformed, and showed obvious bias against the Roman Catholic faith. I am disappointed that The Dispatch would allow such an article to be printed. If someone wrote a column degrading Islam or Judaism, for example, in this manner, there would be uproar. But, of course, Catholics are fair game. Sadly, I'm not surprised at the usual 'high' (not) standard of the Brainerd Daily Dispatch.

Anne Pritschet

Brainerd

Can't support Bush

George W. Bush is our sitting president. I was raised a Republican and have voted for many more Republican candidates than Democratic candidates; I could not vote for George W. In all other elections I supported the winning candidate whether I had voted for him/her or the other candidate. Since the 2000 election I am having a hard time supporting George W.

One of the reasons that I could not vote for George W. was that he signed up for the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War in a program with obsolete planes and would not be sent to Asia. It was reported that no papers could be found that he had reported to Alabama and that he was AWOL. I could never find out any more about this incident before the election. This summer I did read that George W. did make up time a couple of years later with another Air National Guard unit with no time in the guard house. Did he admit that he had been AWOL and did money get him off with disciplinary action?

George W. has admitted that he made some mistakes in the past and will not talk about them. Most of us have done things that were wrong or by looking back wish that we had not done what we did. But, joining the Air National Guard as an adult and then not reporting for duty is more than a little mistake. Now George W. is commander in chief and in a few days will lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Seems like a bit of hypocrisy.

Ruth Gordon

Nisswa