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Does the property in the photograph accompanying this letter look like 12160 345th Avenue?
Not in my opinion.
My family and I have owned 33 acres of what used to be our grandparents' farm in the idyllic area of Otter Tail County for more than 27 years.
We visit often and each time we pass the 345th Avenue sign as we turn down the gravel road to our little piece of heaven, I feel a slight annoyance ("Long rural addresses help point the way," Curious Minnesota, June 19).
While I understand the useful idea behind the change, I lament the need to call our address by a number vs. something like Perfect View Road or something more descriptive.
I suppose it's my age — I'll be 77 on 7/7. Still, I long for the descriptive address of days gone by.
Barbara La Valleur, Edina
ABORTION RULING
We had progress, for a while
I guess it cannot come as a surprise that a gaggle of justices who have codified corporations as people with the same rights as those who breathe would feel proud to dehumanize pregnant women by removing their rights as actual beings with the same rights as those without wombs. It might seem elementary to understand that each of us has the right to take care of her own body as we see best, but the U.S. Supreme Court has gaveled down themselves as the superior thinkers, the authority.
I am a woman who cherishes my right to live my religion as I wish without imposing it upon others. I am horrified to watch my country turn its back on me. And, of course, other (Christian) doctrines are now lining up to be authorized as laws of our land.
At 82 years of age I can only thank my God for giving me an exciting country to grow in from my birth. I fought for civil rights, women's liberation and gay rights, and I was heartened to believe we had accomplished some true forward gains. But contemplating the present and upcoming dangers of the SCOTUS ruling on Roe v. Wade has overwhelmed me.
Shawn O'Rourke Gilbert, Edina
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Make no mistake, the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade will only affect poor people. The rich have always been able to get whatever illegal procedure or product they want, and that will not change.
Too bad for the rest of us.
Frederic J. Anderson, Minneapolis
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Now that Justice Clarence Thomas has joined his five other conservative Supreme Court justices striking down Roe v. Wade, critics have worried that other nonspecified personal rights and freedoms will be attacked next. There is already an outcry from the LGBTQ community that same-sex marriage, transgender rights and many other similar personal freedoms will be lost.
My question is, what will Justice Thomas and cohorts do when a case demanding an end to interracial marriages comes before the court? Remember when interracial marriages were banned in many states? I do. Now some conservative activists are sure to demand that the court review laws prohibiting miscegenation. In the 1967 Supreme Court case of Loring v. Virginia, the court found these laws unconstitutional via the 14th Amendment.
Well, too bad, Clarence. As we now know, precedents mean nothing to you and five of the nine justices. You may as well say goodbye to your wife, Virginia, now.
Bob Brereton, St. Paul
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Friday was a good day to be a fetus.
Jonathan Edward Stiegler, Burnsville
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The Supreme Court has delivered bad news on guns and a new hope for protecting unborn human life. We need to do much more for women and their families so they can freely choose life. As a society, we need to choose life in our justice system by banning the barbaric death penalty and limiting gun possession to law-abiding responsible citizens. We need to make sure all our people have housing and adequate food. We also need to work for peace in our time — we have been far too long at war.
This left-wing feminist wishes peace, nonviolence and nondiscrimination for our children and all who follow.
Kay Kemper, Crystal
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Let all who argue that there is no right to privacy in our Constitution remember that the number of Supreme Court justices cannot be found there, either.
James McKenzie, St. Paul
MINNESOTA LEGISLATURE
Who didn't do the work?
I was struck by the precision of Lori Sturdevant's June 19 column "The Minnesota muddle." It reminded me of a recent conversation I had with a GOP Minnesota senator friend. I asked him why legislators did not get their work done in the regular session. He said they could not agree and were very far apart.
When I asked what he would do, he said that the governor just has to call for a special session. "Why?" I asked. He said that is the only path to a solution.
I don't agree. The legislators had adequate time to reach an agreement, and indeed the two parties in the House did their work. The Senate, not so much.
The members of the Senate should be meeting on their own time right now to do the work the state has elected (and paid) them to do. Theirs is an honorable service they have taken an oath to perform for our state. I share the indignation of Ms. Sturdevant at their proclaimed impotence to fulfill their commitment.
Arnie Bigbee, Edina
FATHER'S DAY
These two articles weren't enough. And the other was misplaced.
After looking in vain for a heartwarming story about dads in last Sunday's newspaper, I finally saw James Lileks column in the Variety section ("Doing Father's Day the old-fashioned way") and a story about substitute dads on the opinion page ("Happy Father's Day to one and all").
Why no other mention in the paper about all the caring fathers who stick around, help out and give advice to their sons and daughters? It was Father's Day, after all. Were you afraid of hurting the feelings of the deadbeat dads who don't contribute to the upbringing and welfare of their children? Maybe their feelings should be hurt, if that's possible. And praising good dads doesn't minimize the efforts of mothers who have to do the job alone. Anyway, as the wife and mother of great dads, I feel they should be celebrated on their day. Maybe even on the front page of the newspaper.
Charlotte Morrison, Prior Lake
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While I strongly support gun restrictions and Mothers Against Community Gun Violence, a headline on the front page of last Sunday's paper read "Moms turn to moms to heal." Were the editors asleep at the wheel? Would there have been a better time or place to put this worthy story?
Sunday was Father's Day!
Thomas M. Sullivan, Edina
