Madison needs Mifflin Street middle ground

The Mifflin Street block party turns 40 this weekend, and it 's safe to say it 's not going anywhere soon. City officials want it to go away. But as the past shows, the more the government doesn 't want college kids to do something, the more likely they will do it.

I can see where the city 's argument stems from. Throughout the years there have been more arrests and citations issued, requiring more police using more force, costing the city lots of money. Where is the middle ground? If you over-police, you 'll have more arrests and citations and a higher cost to the city. With no police on Mifflin, the party would spiral into anarchy.

Maybe city officials are looking at this issue wrong. The party costs the city some, but it also brings lots of commerce. I know more than just UW-Madison college kids attend this event.

I don 't know if the city will ever find the right way to deal with the Mifflin Street block party. They finally got their stuff together when it came to State Street Halloween, but Mifflin is another story. It will take a lot more minds to come together to fix this problem.

-- Craig Ricker, Oregon

The following letters were written by students in Karen Smith 's seventh grade language arts class at Madison 's Hamilton Middle School as part of a unit of study on newspapers:

Need observance of Earth Day

Earth Day has just passed, and I 'm wondering why our school did not participate in any "Earth-friendly " activities. Some Madison area schools celebrated the day by picking up trash around their schools or in nearby neighborhoods and learning about protecting our natural environment.

When we as a school overlook the importance of Earth Day and all it stands for, some students forget the major issues of global warming, landfills and pollution. Earth Day is meant to educate the community, but is not achieving that goal in our schools.

I suggest we don 't neglect Earth Day and all it represents. Taking one day or even just one hour off of school to pick up trash would make people aware of the amount of trash in the streets. Maybe they would think twice before tossing garbage on the sidewalk or street. We only have one world and one chance to live in it. Let 's not waste that chance.

-- Annalisa Stevenson

Society 's problem: lack of commitment

There are simply too many problems in our world -- war in Iraq, the economy, rising oil prices, terrorism and natural disasters, to name a few. And with a new president coming into office, many things are supposed to change and solutions for America are supposed to be found. In my view, they won 't.

When you say you will "go green, " then quit in a few days, forget your pledge or take a break from your promise, nothing is accomplished. This problem of not keeping commitments will destroy us if we do not address it.

If we don 't believe and strive towards our goals, then big issues like finding an alternative energy source and addressing poverty will not happen. Things will just get worse. Then, as they slowly get worse, people across America will read about it in the papers, sit back and think that someone should really do something about it. Then they will get up and answer the call for dinner.

Will this letter be read, or attention paid to it? No, because people don 't have commitment. If we stick to things like going green -- not just want to, but actually do them -- the world will be a better place.

We already have the resources to go green, and we already have the money. So that means we can do it. We just need commitment.

-- Cruz R. Morales

Religious traditions infiltrate schools

I am concerned about the presence of religious holiday traditions in Madison schools. Throughout the years I have experienced many activities based around Christian holidays which made me feel uncomfortable and out of place. Not being Christian, I don 't celebrate any of these holidays.

Once right before Christmas one of my teachers had my class make gingerbread houses. A few days before that, I went to the office and found that someone had decorated a shelf with a little Santa Claus figurine. And there were Christmas lights in the school library.

In elementary school, it was common for music teachers to claim that songs like "Jingle Bells " weren 't religious and require everyone to sing them.

Teachers should leave religious holiday traditions out of the curriculum. Either that or discuss other religions ' holiday traditions in schools as well.

-- Meagan Kauffman-Jewell

Summer break starts too late

I am concerned about our school 's late dismissal for summer break. Hamilton Middle School doesn 't get out for the summer break until June 13. This is too late considering most schools around the country get out just before Memorial Day weekend.

This late dismissal makes it hard to concentrate during the last couple of weeks of school, It 's difficult knowing that kids are already enjoying a summer off while we 're still learning and getting homework.

Also, by then the pools are open and summer activities are beginning. By the time we get out of school, it feels as if summer has already begun to pass us by.

This late dismissal is due to school starting after Labor Day and our extended time off during the winter and spring breaks. If we were given fewer days off throughout the year, and perhaps went back to school a week earlier, we could start summer break a couple of weeks sooner and get an extra week off. This would help me as well as other students to concentrate better as school nears an end.

-- Kaitlin Mork

For students ' sake, extend lunch break

I am concerned about the short time we students are given to eat our lunches. At Hamilton Middle School we have only 15 to 20 minutes to eat, five of which we may spend waiting in line to purchase food. This is simply not enough.

I often find myself having to eat much of my lunch during recess. Frequently I don 't even manage to finish it then, leaving me hungry during afternoon classes. How can we concentrate and learn when our energy source -- food -- must be consumed so quickly and incompletely?

In addition to a lunch break, we also get a 10-minute break between our second and third classes. This is unnecessary. The break time would be better spent added to our abbreviated lunch period.

If the school administrators narrowed the break to the usual four-minute passing time and added the remaining six minutes to our lunch time, it would make a large difference.

-- Luella Allen-Waller

Pollution ruins use and beauty of lakes

Dane County 's lakes are too polluted with organic materials and chemicals such as pesticides.

Spring is here, bringing rain and melting snow. This water carries contaminants which drain into our lakes, leading to excessive weeds and pollution.

As an active lake user, I 've seen the lakes become weedier and smellier each year. Monona Bay is one area taken over by weeds and algae. These weeds are bad news for lake users, meaning less waterskiing, tubing, swimming and other water sports as well as decreasing the overall beauty of our lakes.

To fix the problem, Madison residents have to decrease their use of pesticides and other chemicals on their lawns. They must also be more conscious of putting yard waste on the edges of their lawns rather than in the roads where it can drain into the lakes.

The city must also do its part by regularly cleaning the streets and picking up yard waste.

-- Oliver Redsten

Reinforce students' recycling efforts

I am worried about the lack of recycling done in elementary, middle and high schools in the Madison area.

Being a middle school student myself, I see how little is being recycled each day by students. At the beginning of the school year, the teachers introduced their recycling system. The method was unclear to me because it was explained with little detail. Plus I was unsure about what was recyclable and what wasn 't. This makes me and other students hesitate before throwing something away.

This is a crucial problem for all schools to work on. With the global warming problems and the filling of landfills, recycling is essential to keep the Earth alive. If kids and staff at schools recycled more, not only would room in landfills be saved, but much energy would be conserved in manufacturing aluminum cans.

If school officials were to explain the recycling technique in more depth, and make it a more important issue to them, it would most likely become more important to students as well. Daily encouragement would be helpful for me and my peers.

-- Ave Kay