Bus ridership stats questioned

Metro Transit may be spreading questionable results and undermining its credibility. Since it is increasingly necessary to transfer from one bus to another to make a trip, what used to be counted as one trip now becomes two, not because you are travelling more, but because people are playing with numbers.

Metro Transit tabulates each transferred ride as a separate trip. Even the State Journal's recent article reports, for example, that the No. 6 will no longer service Madison Area Technical College on weekends. Instead, one will need to transfer to the No. 20. Thus, what used to be counted as one trip becomes two.

So is ridership at its highest in 25 years? Maybe, maybe not. Is there an intention to spread misinformation? Maybe. Can I believe what Metro Transit says? No.

-- Susan De Vos, Madison

I have questions I'd like answered in follow-up to the story titled "One in four girls in study has an STD."

Is the study confined to girls? What are the results for boys? Is there a vaccine for HPV for boys?

What is the nature of sex education in Madison-area schools? Is it all "abstinence," or is it more than that? Sexuality may be a taboo subject, but surely in a matter of such importance to public health we can be told the nature of sex education classes in our schools.

This strikes me as being much more serious than smoking, which has had much discussion as a danger to public health.

-- John R. Thomas, Madison

Keep city's benefits for city residents

Madison has released a draft economic development implementation plan, which I encourage city residents to review. Then they should let the mayor and their representatives know what they'd like from our city's economy.

The draft plan promotes economic development as a means to create quality jobs for city residents and expand the tax base. While creating quality jobs is a great goal, how do we assure they are filled by city residents when there is only a 2.5 percent unemployment rate and half of city jobs are for non-resident commuters?

Won't these new jobs just generate more sprawl or increase the resident/non-resident income disparity identified in the plan? Will the expanded tax base from new businesses pay for required services and infrastructure, or increase existing property taxes?

I'd like the plan to identify more ways for Madison residents to benefit from the city's prosperity and recoup the cost of providing the services and infrastructure. With the good economic conditions described in the draft plan, we can afford to be more progressive and think outside of the box of trickle-down economics.

Approaches might include supplementing or replacing city property taxes with a municipal income tax like that used in Michigan or Ohio. Or using tolls so all those coming to Madison for work, play or business will contribute to maintaining the city.

-- Steven Klafka, Madison

Crucial bills stalled, but Favre gets honor

I see the state Assembly couldn't possibly pass the bills on autism, health care for the uninsured or the state smoking ban before adjourning for the year, but they could pass a resolution to honor Brett Favre.

We all love Favre, but get real. I guess the state has its priorities, and they are not the people of Wisconsin.

-- Sandi Russell, Madison

Decker and Huebsch let Wisconsin down

Kentucky, relying on tobacco as a major state industry, has tobacco taxes that are among the lowest in the country. Wisconsin, with an alcohol-centered lifestyle, has the lowest alcohol taxes in the county. Wisconsin is now "worst in the nation" when it comes to irresponsible drinking and the alcohol problems that come from it.

Now we've become more of a public health disgrace as alcohol and tobacco interests have prevented us from enjoying smoke-free air wherever we work.

I wish there was a way to replace Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, and Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, immediately so the majority could prevail. Now we have to wait for another session to try again to have public health triumph over tobacco and alcohol.

There must be a way the Republican Assembly and Democratic Senate can insist the smoke-free bills be brought to the floor for a vote. The stalling tactic by the Tavern League and the politicians they influence is an insult to Wisconsin.

It's time to vote out of office those who prevent the will of the people from being realized. I can think of the first two to go.

-- David MacMaster, Wisconsin Dells

Trust key issue for parents and teens

I applaud the Wausau parents who had the police raid their daughter's party held at their home while they were away. And I agree with Family Resource Center manager Linda Salzman that teenagers want to be independent, but parents know they aren't mature yet so their mistakes must be corrected.

However, I do not agree with Salzman's statement that "It's not a matter of trust, it's a matter of safety."

It's all about trust. An honorable person can be trusted and expected to fulfill promises. When that trust is broken, it's hard to restore.

Children need to be able to trust their parents, and parents need to be able to trust family members. Civilization is based on law and order. Without those, we face chaos.

-- P. S. Anderson, Madison

Sauk County Board should reject quarry

The Baraboo Hills are one of Wisconsin's outstanding natural resources and a major tourism destination. But never mind. Claiming jobs matter more than anything else, a mining company wants to situate a 90-acre quarry in the North Range that will result in the flattening of a scenic hill visible for miles around.

After local opponents obtained over 1,000 signatures on a petition, the Baraboo Town Board voted unanimously against the company's rezoning request. Now the mining company is asking the Sauk County Board to override the town's decision. It would be extraordinary if it agreed to do so.

The town of Spring Green rejected a similar request for a quarry not long ago, and that was the end of it. In Baraboo, the public has likewise made its wishes known.

The proposed quarry is clearly a case of private profit vs. public interest. It would create a major disruption and transform a lovely landscape into an eyesore. It makes no sense environmentally, recreationally or economically.

This is not just a local concern. Everyone in Wisconsin who cares about the Baraboo Hills -- hikers, bikers, sportsmen, sightseers -- has something at stake.

The Sauk County Board will meet March 18 to consider the mining company's latest rezoning request. A list of Sauk County Board members with their contact information can be found at www.co.sauk.wi.us/data/board.

-- Brad Wilson, Baraboo

Immoral leaders lead to immoral youth

The political scandal involving New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer seems to have made at least a small dent in our sensibilities. We've been so desensitized to such things that we accept David Letterman's recent remark, "I though Bill Clinton legalized this years ago," as Gospel truth.

The biblical passage in James 3:1 teaches "Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that you will receive a greater judgment," but apparently not in our time in which Clinton received merely a slap on the wrist.

Another news story reveals that one in four American girls aged 14 to 19 has a sexually transmitted disease. These girls were not infected without sexual contact with infected males, who either have or are carriers of such diseases.

Planned Parenthood and others have criticized abstinence programs as not working. Of course they don't work if not practiced! Doesn't anyone see the relationship between this and the lack of sexual discipline among too many immoral leaders?

-- Alice Mueller, Richland Center

Rehabilitate people, and Mohs' image

Fred Mohs sounds like he has lots of financial resources and wants to discuss how Madison is responding to the needs of the city's homeless. He should set up a foundation explicitly meant to rehabilitate the homeless -- male and female, young and old. That might also rehabilitate his image in the community.

I am a retired Lutheran clergyman who also served for 25 years as an alcohol and drug counselor for Lutheran Social Services, eight of those years in Madison. I worked with drunken drivers' groups in Sheboygan County for 13 years.

People can change and grow if other people believe in and actively support them. I know that from personal experience. My pastor and others helped me out of the hole of my own self-judgment. My father was an alcoholic, but never missed a day of work.

I would love to be part of further discussion of the homeless problem and might even contribute some cash to such a foundation and promote it in my small circle of influence.

-- the Rev. James McClurg, Sun Prairie