Front plate helps I.D. perps

I drive school bus and frequently have drivers blowing through my red flashing stop arms when I am transporting students. A rear license plate doesn’t help me report perpetrators. I need a front license plate.

Maybe the reason we have front plates is better enforcement of our traffic laws.

As to the fees, the roads and bridges are not free to maintain. Gas taxes and licensing fees fund our roads. We have winter here and that beats up our roads which adds to maintenance costs. As much as we want our highways are not free.

Jerry Johnson, Inver Grove Heights

And these perps, too

I’ve read about states that do not require front license plates for cars. I’m all for saving money, but have there been any studies done on the safety of the practice? For example, if another driver runs into your car, then backs away, wouldn’t that make it difficult to identify who did it, if you couldn’t see a license plate?

Kathy Price, Cottage Grove

It’s an old building with problems

Joe Soucheray’s Feb,17 column on the new State Office Building was long on ridicule and short on facts. An MPR online story from December 2022 said the old building had flooding and mold, lacked security and law-required accessibility. Roofing, pipes, ventilation and other needed work in the 92-year-old building would be costly. Soucheray’s ridicule did not rebut this argument.  Responsible opinion columns are built on facts, not imagination.

Mary G. Brown, Hopkins

Charge the parents

It seems logical there should be consequences for any parent whose child has access to a gun and carries it in public to school or playground. Any parent or guardian who allows access in the home or in public by an individual of 22 or fewer years of age should be arrested and charged with aiding dangerous behavior. That wouldn’t solve the problem completely but a lot of parents would do a better job of keeping guns out of the hands of their children.

Carl Brookins, Roseville

Hold Biden accountable

Much has been discussed this past week on special counsel Robert Hur calling President Biden an elderly man with a poor memory but truly the bigger story is when the president flat out lied three times trying to defend himself.  Even CNN, which is not a Trump-supporting organization, had to admit Biden lied and thus ran this headline “Fact Check: Biden makes three false claims about his handling of classified documents.” But even with all that damning evidence, the spin was spent on the president’s hurt feelings.

Of course very little to no follow-up was done on these serious lies that I saw so once again Biden gets treated special because of the media’s outright hatred of Donald Trump.

It’s long overdue to hold Biden ever bit as accountable as Trump.

Walter J. Huemmer, St. Paul

A time to thank the framers

Of all the evidence that Donald Trump has provided us regarding his lack of fitness for the high office he once held and now seeks again, none is more concerning than his lack of understanding regarding how our constitutional democracy is meant to work.

He has approached his proposed agenda (if you can call it that) with the same expectations as would a CEO of his own privately owned and criminally managed company, expressing frustration and anger when his actions are called to account. He regularly berates the important system of checks and balances represented by an independent judiciary, and a Congress whose purpose it is to thoughtfully debate the issues before exercising its duty to enact into law those which best reflect the will of the people, not the whims of an ill-informed dictator. His foot-stomping lack of patience is worse than that of my 2-year-old grandchild. And when a free press holds him to account for his misbehavior and failure of moral leadership, Trump resorts to social media rants that further debase and degrade our democratic processes.

It is at times such as these, that we should be grateful to the framers of the Constitution for providing us with a document that guards our nation against the demagoguery imbedded in his reckless behavior. Still, we dare not allow him to further test it by giving him a second chance.

John Wheeler, Maplewood

Vile, false attacks

One always knows when there is an election is upon us. The press begin swinging at conservatives usually with false narratives.

Take a report in Sunday’s Pioneer Press, “Republicans use bigoted attacks against political foes.” As I would like to tackle all of the examples presented I will focus on one.

Marjorie Taylor Greene (ranked in the top five that the left love to attack) said that she was seeking punishment for for “Rep. Omar of Somalia; I mean Minnesota.”

This was planned by Ms. Greene to say that because of what Omar had said at a recent speech. According to the Heritage Foundation, Ms. Omar said, in part, “We are people of brotherhood, people of blood, people who know themselves to be Somalis, to be Muslims … We are a gifted set of individuals with a patriotic spirit that acknowledges our homeland and strives to protect it.”

Now what Ms. Omar said is fine if she were a representative in the Somali government. But shouldn’t she be acknowledging and protecting the country where she is an elected congresswoman? How about protecting the border, Congresswoman?

I’ll be looking for these vile false attacks from the Pioneer Press for those elected officials on the left. Please wake me up when one appears.

Thomas McMahon, White Bear Lake

Experience matters

Getting old isn’t for sissies. I won’t run another marathon and sometimes I stumble over words, but being older has its rewards. Grandkids for one, experience for another. Nothing makes you wiser than learning from your mistakes.

Recall an older person special to you. I think of Grandpa, who taught me how to set the hook when the bobber danced. He died at 96 after a rich life, although he rarely had two nickels to scrape together, as he would say. He left elementary school to work in the coal mines, served in France during WWI, and raised a large family in rural Minnesota during the Great Depression and WW2.

One of the smartest people I’ve ever known, Grandpa was sharp as a tack when he passed away in 1989. Did he forget a few names? Sure, but never the roster of the Minnesota Twins. Did he pause to consider what he would say?  Damn right – he was careful with his words.  He was a guiding light for our entire clan.

Could he have been President at 80? Definitely, although Grandma would have been even better. His wisdom was quiet and firm with a glorious sense of humor. He wasn’t a politician, but he supported FDR for president. I have the old tube radio they used to listen to fireside chats.

It looks like we will have to make a choice next November between the two oldest men ever to hold the office, Biden or Trump.

Joe Biden has long experience as a political leader. Elected to the Senate in 1972, he’s been involved in national and world issues for 52 years.  He has learned from his mistakes and accomplished much to help Americans like us. Known for being kind, he also believes in democracy.

Donald Trump has experience, especially in courtrooms. He’s good at insulting people. He owes half a billion dollars in fines for fraudulent business practices. He has experience with bankruptcy, impeachments, criminal charges, sexual assaults and lying.

It’s likely only Trump and Biden will be on the ballot. When that bobber dances, I’ll choose Biden.

Paul Hambleton, Hudson

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