Corn growers wish that writers who bring forth such doom and gloom about the future of ethanol in America would contact corn growers themselves and receive a much different viewpoint. We wonder if Mr. Breining has visited an ethanol plant in person, or does he gather his facts from some learned source who has a completely one-sided opinion about ethanol? Let us hope they are not under the influence of the power brokers in the energy industry.

Any attack on ethanol has to be suspect of loyalties to those whose financial future is threatened if ethanol ever becomes the major replacement of fossil fuels. It would be logical from reading the quotes from so-called experts with long degrees that they are under some kind of spell from giant powerful forces opposing energy grown from mother earth’s bounty.

The day is coming for Americans to decide how we will separate ourselves from dependence on foreign oil from unstable societies who want our dollars and yet hate us for what we stand for—and know we can afford the shameful blackmail they practice on us. Maybe we will have to resort to using these bio-fuels that are so berated at the moment but could end up being our salvation.

Mr. Breining could have spent more time on what America will do if we don’t use bio-diesel or ethanol as our source of energy. It is always easier to lament the development but pretty hard to offer sound alternate solutions.

Gerald Krueger
Aberdeen, South Dakota

FIRST CONSERVE
Thank you for taking up the politically explosive issue of bio-fuels. I am a lifelong farmer in western Minnesota and have taken a diversified livestock approach featuring grazing and pasture production.

One concern with ethanol is what it’s doing to feed prices. Our costs have shot up by 15 percent already. We face tough times ahead, and it is easy to see red when someone else gets the subsidy. I understand the farmer feeling on this, as it often seems we do not get in on any opportunity until someone else has all the profit. It’s just that I have trouble seeing great promise here. Some of the science community has reservations, and we need to listen to those before we give out the keys to the state’s treasury, especially to corporations.

Much more importantly, there is a worry with the production of so much corn. Corn cannot be grown organically in a rotation of much less than five years. It is difficult to cut that down with any kind of sustainable practice, and whatever we do in agriculture, we must be as sustainable as possible if we are to safeguard the bounty of land and our resources into the future. Corn is a pig for nitrogen, opens the soil to erosion, doesn’t do well in a drought, and takes a lot of fuel to plant, till, harvest, store, and move.

The conventional pro-ethanol arguments assume that corn can safely be grown in an every-other-year rotation, or possibly as a continuous crop. It cannot, in my view. We grow it one year in five, and half our cropping land is in hay at any given time. This farm is on the fl at western Minnesota wet prairie and it can take a lot of abuse. But if I drive 50 miles north to the glacial moraine area I can see soil running down the hills out of cornfields after any rain all summer. Much of this land is in [conservation reserve programs]. What happens when it comes out?

Why does the first solution to the energy problem have to be such a major investment? The first answer to the energy problem is not a major change in the processing sector. It is rather that we would look at our habits and develop more conservative behavior in all avenues, including farming.

Jim Van Der Pol (B.A. ’70)
Kerkhoven, Minnesota

SUPPORT ALL STEM CELL RESEARCH
We support stem cell research at the University of Minnesota. Our daughter was diagnosed with diabetes at age 7, and embryonic stem cell research is one of the potential paths from which a cure and improved treatment may evolve.

The University is a pioneer in stem cell research. Stem cell research of all types shows promise in alleviating and curing many diseases. Adult stem cells are currently being used in treating leukemias, cancers, and other blood disorders, while embryonic stem cells show promise in alleviating and curing genetic diseases, tissue injuries, and degenerative diseases, specifically, spinal cord injury, Parkinson’s disease, stroke, diabetes, liver disease, and heart disease.

We disagree with a previous letter writer [“Bad Science, Bad Public Policy,” January– February]. It is good science, it is good policy, and it aids the University in moving toward its goal of becoming one of the top research institutions in the country. Ask your legislators to support the Minnesota Biomedical Sciences Research Facilities Authority. Minnesota needs this financing tool so the University can make strategic investments in biomedical research for our long-term future.

Graydon Page (B.A. ’72, M.D. ’76)
Shelley Page (B.S. ’73, M.S. ’76))
White Bear Lake, Minnesota

DON'T BLAME NCAA SANCTIONS
Sports Notebook [January–February 2007] reports that “severe recruiting and scholarship restrictions from the NCAA were lifted only last October” [from the Gopher men’s basketball program].

I’ve seen this reported elsewhere as well, in the context of helping to explain the team’s relatively poor recent performance in the Big Ten. Details of the NCAA sanctions based on news articles I’ve seen from 2000 and more recently are: loss of three scholarships during two seasons beginning 2000–01; loss of five additional scholarships to be spread among three seasons beginning with 2001–02; deletion of the Gopher men’s post-season records from the late 1990s and other “recruiting restrictions”; and probation.

So by the fall of 2004, scholarships were back to the full 13 allowed by the NCAA. What continued until October 2006 were probation and some kind of recruiting restrictions. We need to look elsewhere than the NCAA sanctions to find reasons for the 9th- and 10th-place finishes in the Big Ten the past two seasons.

Jim Riehle (B.S. ’66)
Anchorage, Alaska

KEEPING DREAMS ALIVE
We just wanted to let you know how much we enjoyed your Editor’s Note in the March–April issue [“Poking Through the Rubble”]. It touched all of our hearts and it is a very special story. We celebrated Martin Luther King this year in a big way at our stores and asked children to bring in their dreams. Several were for peace and not war, and we sent all the dreams to the White House. It was so touching to be reminded of their innocence and what meaning we bring as adults. We salute you!

Roberta Bonoff (B.S. ’81)
CEO and President, Creative Kidstuff
Minneapolis

CORRECTION
Two sentences were omitted from the column “Our U Is Changing—for the Better” [March–April] by UMAA national president Denny Schulstad (B.A. ’66). The text should have included the sentences set here in italics: “While the volume of applicants to the U has increased dramatically in recent years, the number of highly qualified applicants has exploded. [Vice provost of student affairs Jerry] Rinehart dispelled the myth that a high percentage of students come from other states and nations. In reality, 65 percent of U students are Minnesotans. Approximately 24 percent come from Wisconsin (which has a reciprocity agreement with the U of M, so many Minnesotans also attend the University of Wisconsin–Madison), and about 2 percent each are from North Dakota and South Dakota. Only 6 percent are from states without reciprocity, and 1 percent are international students.”

Letters reflect the opinion of the author and do not represent the views of the University or the alumni association.  To submit a letter, go to www.alumni.umn.edu/opinion or write to Letter to the Editor, Minnesota Magazine, McNamara Alumni Center, 200 Oak St. SE, Suite 200, Minneapolis, MN 55455. Letters will be edited for length, style, and clarity. Full guidelines are at the Web address above.