The Public Pulse, February 7

Officers also were in danger

I disagree with Barbara MacLennan's Feb. 1 letter about two Omaha police officers shooting at three teenage girls last month. She stated that the officers should be suspended and that they could have killed those girls. I could not disagree more.

A car racing toward police officers could have killed the officers. It didn't matter who was behind the wheel. In the end, the officers could have died anyway.

Maybe the officers could have quickly asked the age and gender of the car's occupants while it was racing toward them? Maybe they had time to ask them what high school they go to?

I think the officers were justified up until the time the car was speeding away. The students should count their blessings that they were able to speed away.

Jerry Bosak, Dakota Dunes, S.D.

Pledge bill is troubling

Where true freedom of speech, religion, conscience and thought prevail, none is compelled either to declare or deny any particular belief or idea. Such considerations impel me strongly to oppose Legislative Bill 990, which would mandate that:

>> The American flag be "prominently displayed" not only "on school grounds" but also "in each classroom," including postsecondary educational institutions.

>> "All pupils enrolled in a school district shall be led in a group recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag." Presumably, a teacher would be required to lead the ritual, although LB 990 fails to specify such.

The pledge was transformed from a patriotic oath adopted by Congress in 1942, into a public prayer by congressional addition of "under God" in 1954. The Constitution protects not only the right to say freely what is on one's mind but also the right not to be compelled by the state to say what is not on one's mind. A pledge extolling "liberty" nullifies liberty when one is compelled to utter it.

It is one thing for the state to compel public school attendance, and quite another for the state to mandate utterance of words expressing a particular political and religious doctrine.

The pledge contains an acknowledgment of "God." The Constitution prohibits any "religious test" for holding public employment. Would not LB 990 implicitly impose such a test on teachers?

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that no student can be compelled to recite or stand for the pledge. A child whose parents may insist that she is permitted to remain seated and silent may become the "odd child out" and a target for ridicule, ostracism, shunning, hatred and even physical attack.

What rational justification exists for mandating a pledge when a mandated pledge, in actuality, is no pledge?

Nebraska should be above and better than that. LB 990 should be defeated.

Ernie Chambers, Omaha

Former Nebraska state senator

MUD can't pay for city sewers

State Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh of Omaha suggested privatizing the now-public Metropolitan Utilities District (MUD) to finance Omaha's billion-dollar sewer problem (Feb. 2 news story).

Well, here we go again. Let's see, we can privatize MUD, pay more for our utility services from a private company and have one heck of a time with the increased rates that are based on profit.

Sen. Lautenbaugh needs to get into economics that really work. I wonder if our Legislature has been in session too long.

James L. Rawlings, Omaha

Is it about abortion or cancer?

I'll admit I care more about protecting unborn babies from being killed by Planned Parenthood than I do about finding the cure for cancer.

Is the opposite true for those who denounced the Susan G. Komen for the Cure and threatened to pull their support last week? Do they care more about killing babies than about finding the cure for cancer?

I can't support an organization that helps fund the abortion industry, regardless of its core mission.

It appears liberals are so devoted to the abortion industry that they can't or won't support an organization that doesn't fund abortions, or at least one that withdraws its funding from the abortion industry. So, by deduction, they care more about abortion rights than a cancer cure.

It might be decades away, but one day our descendant children will read about this current period in their history books and say, "That was legal?"

Kevin Jones, Omaha

A chance to fund road-widening

For more than 20 years, residents of the Washington County area have been told there was no funding for widening Nebraska Highway 133.

Last year, the Legislature passed Legislative Bill 84, which would allocate 0.5 cents of the state's 5.5-cent sales tax for highway work around the state. The option gave a glimmer of hope that finally this project might move forward.

Safety is the major issue for widening Highway 133. As the Blair business community grows, commuter traffic both ways has increased. This is due to many people from the Omaha area traveling north to work in Washington County, as well as residents of the Washington and Burt County areas traveling south to work in Omaha.

Throw in a large number of school buses transporting rural students day and night, numerous housing developments and the Blair airport, and it spells disaster for families, kids and commuters.

I hope the Legislature will look long and hard at the amount of work put into LB 84 by State Sen. Deb Fischer and the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee.

Harriet Waite, Blair, Neb.

Executive director

Blair Area Chamber of Commerce

Cut junk mail, Postal Service

Since Jan. 1, I have tracked all of the junk mail received at our home. We had 95 pieces in 31 days, so more than three pieces a day went into the recycling bin. Those with stamped envelopes were returned to the sender.

Junk mail is invading our privacy. We don't ask for it to be sent to us. There should be a law so we are not bombarded with all of this unwanted mail. Maybe if we got rid of this junk mail, the U.S. Postal Service could cut back employees and downsize.

Nola Reed, Lexington, Neb.

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