Packers took the fun out of Sunday

This Packer team is sure not much fun to watch. I am trying to find something else to do.

I would have a root canal, but my dentist doesn't work on Sunday. Maybe I could take out my appendix with a hacksaw -- just something that's more fun than watching the Packers.

-- Roger Latham, Lancaster

"How dangerous it always is," literature's Sherlock Holmes said, "to reason from insufficient data." Such is the peril of the front-page story in the Nov. 21 State Journal about hunters using rifles in zones previously reserved for shotguns.

The assertion that "shotgun slugs only go . . . 150 yards" is false, and created the false impression that new hunting regulations increased risk. Today's standard shotgun slug can carry more than a mile. Read the box. For the past 20 years, most new shotguns have had the power and range of rifles.

If novice shooters believe the 150-yard falsehood, they may think it's safe to shoot targets without a backstop -- something behind the target to stop the slug -- and turn a safe activity perilous. Insufficient data can kill people.

The idea that prohibiting rifles made these zones safer is also wrong because use of modern muzzle loaders and hunting handguns has been legal in shotgun zones for decades, and these, too, can have the same range and power as rifles.

Many shotguns, muzzle loaders and handguns actually have more power and range than the ubiquitous 30-30 "deer rifle" used for generations.

-- Russell King, Madison

Urbanization in state hurts deer hunting

I'm amazed that State Journal outdoors writer Pat Durkin does not understand why deer hunting is losing its luster. Rural Wisconsin has become urbanized.

In that process, ownership has changed so dramatically that hunting freedom is no longer available. Urbanization has brought a maze of rules and regulations to protect those urban interests.

Deer hunting rules and regulations are enforced with a "you are guilty until proven innocent" philosophy, an attitude that's created frustration of all kinds in the deer hunting community.

If Durkin wants to restore deer hunting, he should politically motivate the Department of Natural Resources' philosophy to one of nurturing and care. Attitude flows from the leaders of a system to the entire system.

If the deer hunting tradition is to survive, that attitude must change. One suggestion: All DNR field personnel should be elected.

-- Roger A. Bussan, Plain

Need hospice-like care for disabled kids

Linda Nolten's personal and compassionate guest column in Thursday's State Journal profoundly touched me. It described the pain that Ryan Dutter must have felt after fatally shooting his developmentally disabled son.

I expect that Dutter did not find peace as he turned the gun on himself. I sense that he may have paused a moment and then, at the lowest point in his life, ended it.

Every parent worries and prays over what the future might hold for their children if they were no longer there. But few of us live Nolten's life of round-the-clock care giving.

She wrote "Who will care for my son when I am gone? No one will be there when I am gone to hold him and protect him ..." How very sad.

We must give thought to developing a sensitive and caring resource for developmentally delayed children whose caregivers are gone. Maybe a place like hospice, or one dedicated to children like Dutter's son, so they can live out their lives and find the simple joy of just being.

The children who never grow up, who live out their lives as children, need a place where caring adults "hold and protect them."

-- Thomas Miller, Madison

Igor a lost cause; put funds to better use

These nice people who want to raise $6,000 to retrain the dog "Igor" should find a more deserving cause.

This is a typical "mean dog" that cannot ever be trusted unsupervised around other animals or children.

Let's get this over with and put this money where it will do some good. The Humane Society could certainly use it along with other organizations that care for our four-legged friends.

Support the dogs and cats that become our loved companions, not a killer who has proved he is beyond saving.

-- Loren Hatleberg, Waunakee

Parking rules easy for students to find

It took me about 30 seconds to find the alternate side parking rules on the city of Madison Web site.

I also found out that students can park for free in city ramps at night during a snow emergency and that there is a number to call to find out when snow emergencies are declared.

I don't think we should worry about these students. The city should be glad for the extra revenue.

-- Meg Stevens, Madison

Choose for your child, but not for us

In response to a Wednesday letter about school indoctrination, we could not disagree more. The writer's assumption that Pecatonica High School is indoctrinating students is not fair.

Not only is homosexuality something beyond the control of human influence, but it does not, or should not, have a negative connotation like socialism, Nazism and fascism do.

As for swearing or sexual references in classroom literature, perhaps if the literature in question was viewed as it is taught in the classroom, parents would understand its presence. Trust your school!

"Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck, a book we have studied, is a classic work of literature. Despite content that some may think is inappropriate, we believe that these references add to its reality and educational integrity. Steinbeck wrote with profanity and violence because that was the way he experienced the people he lived with.

In our classroom we address such issues. What better place to learn tolerance and reality? When we step into the real world, we are going to be confronted with all of these issues. Hiding us from reality will handicap us in the future.

When you discriminate against others as in the letter, you are as guilty as those practices you criticize. Make choices for your children, but not for the rest of us!

-- Shane Donohue, Raylynn Jelle, Alexandra Walters and the other 23 students in Peg Kruse's block 1 freshman English class, Belleville High School

Instill values by example at home

I sincerely hope that the schools are providing information on atheism, socialism, fascism and Nazism, not to mention sexuality, both hetero- and homo-.

These are facts of life and of history, and we will only improve ourselves and our world by understanding them and their effects.

As for the presence of swearing, violence and sexual references in school books, these abound in the English "classics," not to mention such translated works as the Bible.

The best way to instill your values into your children is to demonstrate their worth at home, by example.

-- David Schendlinger, Middleton

Plant rejection has doomed Cassville

I lived with my husband and three children in Cassville until September 2007, when we moved. Our Cassville home has now been for sale for a year and a half, with only three showings.

We had been counting on the power plant to help sell our house and allow us to finally be able to save money for our children's futures. But there is no hope now that the plant has been rejected.

My real estate agency has listed seven more Cassville houses this week alone. The negative vote has spelled death for that small town, and financial disaster for everyone who owns real estate there.

When you live in Madison, it's hard to understand the needs of very rural communities. Grant County citizens have felt neglected by the state before, but the power plant decision has brought real despair to a region that has been struggling to survive for years.

As for my family, we struggle to afford enough groceries because we continue to make payments on a house that is standing empty and beginning to fall into disrepair. Unfortunately for the people of Cassville, there is no government bailout on Main Street.

-- Kaci Koltz, Wautoma

An 82-year-old "sometimes forgetful" friend recently was cited for disobeying a police officer at the scene of an accident. He reportedly attempted to drive through the scene instead of following directions to take a nearby exit.

Although the facts were somewhat fuzzy to him, he nevertheless paid the $85 fine to end the matter. The Department of Transportation, however, suspended his license. Losing his ability to drive caused him much frustration following a 60-plus year clean driving record and working with law enforcement in a parole system career job.

Police Lt. Wayne Stolpa of the Town of Madison Police Department agreed to talk with my friend and his wife to review the facts and make it clear that nobody doubted his good citizenship and clean driving record.

Stolpa listened and responded in a compassionate manner despite having no control over DOT policy. Just reviewing the facts and realizing that the officer was correct in writing a citation allowed my friend to release the negative scenarios he had been imagining.

Every driver will reach the point where he or she shouldn't be behind the wheel for their own and others' safety. Stolpa made a big difference in dealing with the trauma involved -- beyond the call of duty and much appreciated!

-- Mike Roeder, Madison