Face facts and ditch Mon-Fayette Expressway

Bravo for your Jan. 3 editorial, "Road (Out)rage," calling on the Legislature to fish or cut bait on the Mon-Fayette Expressway.

After more than a billion dollars spent, and billions more accrued in debt service, only a third of the road is complete -- and it doesn't look likely that the $3.5 billion the turnpike needs to build the rest will be forthcoming. It's time to kill the road, once and for all.

We clearly need to focus on more pressing transportation funding issues. It's easy to see what those are. Last week, the Port Authority proposed fare hikes and service cuts to deal with an $80 million operating shortfall in the coming year. In October, PennDOT had to rebid the reconstruction of the Boulevard of the Allies bridge into Oakland, delaying further the repairs to the most dangerous bridge in Pennsylvania.

Our existing services and infrastructure are in trouble. For the same cost as the Mon-Fayette Expressway, we could instead fund every major road-repair project in the state, build environmentally conscious light rail connecting Pittsburgh to its suburbs and have money to spare.

Kill the boondoggle we don't need, and direct funds to fix the roads and buses we depend on every day.

GOLAN LEVIN
Oakland

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Support for North

I would like to respond to Jude and Robert Pohl's Jan. 3 letter ("Not Our Alma Mater") concerning North Catholic High School. As a North Catholic family that strongly believes in North, I feel a need to respond to the Pohls' negative comments.

My wife and I graduated from North in 1975 . All three of our children graduated from North (2000, 2002, 2004). I am disappointed that fellow alumni support the death of our school.

North Catholic does not exist just to educate children from the North Side. As historical and current enrollment statistics support, a large group of students come from the northern suburbs and other areas in the city of Pittsburgh. An opportunity to obtain a Catholic education is not based on where a student resides. North's mission is to provide a Catholic education with a Marianist spirit to any child from any location.

I applaud and fully support the efforts of Father Kris Stubna, diocesan secretary for education, and North's president, Frank Orga, in addressing the issues facing North Catholic and its future. With the support of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, school administration, current students and parents as well as the 11,000-plus alumni, North will grow and prosper and continue its mission. I see a high school being reborn based on promoting Catholic values, high-quality education, modern facilities and a sports program second to none.

I, along with my family and many fellow alumni, want this dream to become reality. North Catholic forever!

TERRENCE J. CRONIN
Franklin Park

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Good for the region

As the manager of an orchestra in the Pittsburgh region, I applaud the city for reducing the amusement tax on events presented by nonprofit cultural groups ("Nonprofits Savor City's Well-Cultured '07 Tax Cut," Dec. 27). Though the North Pittsburgh Philharmonic performs primarily outside city limits, we embrace the value and benefit of Pittsburgh's world-class resources.

Because of the city's symphony, opera, ballet and more, our region has a great appreciation of music, dance and arts organizations of all shapes and sizes. Pittsburgh's dynamic cultural amenities continue to enhance our region's image throughout the country. In fact, it's one of the first things I tell to people who aren't familiar with Pittsburgh.

Keeping our cultural arts organizations fiscally strong is vital to the future of our beloved town, and a lower amusement tax is a welcome benefit to the bottom line of many groups. Arts organizations have faced funding challenges in recent years (reductions in grants from foundations, fewer personal donations), and many operate with little budgetary margin for error. As the city's finances continue to stabilize, I'm hopeful its leaders will choose ultimately to eliminate the amusement tax on non-profits entirely.

Kudos to all those involved in making this happen.

VALERIE GOLIK
Executive Director
North Pittsburgh Philharmonic
Marshall

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The wrong target

Like Carol Mullen of Edgewood ("Their Role," Dec. 26 letters), I, too, have been following the news concerning the Rev. Brent Dugan, who committed suicide in November shortly before he believed a KDKA-TV news story might "out" him as having had a sexual relationship with a man. Ms. Mullen chooses to turn the fickle finger of guilt from KDKA toward the Pittsburgh Presbytery, and by extension the entire Presbyterian Church (USA), for not permitting ordainment of "outs."

But wait a minute. The church tenet is and always has been not to permit this -- the Rev. Dugan has to have known that, and was working within the sanction. What precipitated his suicide was KDKA -- that was the new pressure in his life and correlates directly with his suicide. The Presbytery was continuing what always has been.

To try to shift blame to the Presbytery is an act of malformed logic equal to that which tries to rationalize homosexual ordainment and homosexual marriage -- they are pure acts of politics to advance an agenda -- not welcome or helpful in a religious denomination.

Legislation has not brought Ms. Mullen the change she wants; court proceedings now haven't either. She descends to using a man and his family's personal tragedy to hurl an indictment in the wrong direction. Ms. Mullen: Please desist on Presbytery bashing.

JAMES M. EDWARDS
Squirrel Hill

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An annoying jumble

Since October 2005, the Post-Gazette has employed the irritating writing style of inserting "Mr.," "Ms." or "Mrs." before surnames. Every week I pray the practice will be dropped, but apparently not so. The Dec. 31, 2006, issue is a graphic example of how counterproductive it is to comfortable reading.

A front-page article by Ed Bouchette about the future of then-Steelers coach Bill Cowher repeatedly referred to him as "Mr. Cowher." Meanwhile, articles in the Sports section that day employed the traditional practice of referring to the coach as simply "Cowher." In fact, any and all stories in the Sports section would, after the first full-name identification, refer to Bill Mazeroski as Mazeroski or Ben Roethlisberger as Roethlisberger. But move that story into another section and they become Mr. Mazeroski and Mr. Roethlisberger over and over.

Similarly, television columnist Rob Owen, after the first identification, is allowed to refer to Martin Sheen as Sheen -- unless that story moves out of the entertainment section, whereupon he suddenly becomes Mr. Sheen. Why the double standard?

The practice is not only jarring and glaringly inconsistent -- it is annoying in the extreme.

ADAM LYNCH
Monroeville

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Oil is finite, so we must explore fuel alternatives

In his Dec. 27 Perspectives commentary "Keep U.S. Energy Companies Armed," Warren Hudak argues to continue government exploration subsidies to oil companies.

That's odd since in 1971 U.S. oil production peaked and then began to decline. Despite more than three decades of government subsidies to the oil companies, our nation has gone from being a net exporter to importing 66 percent of our oil.

Even if the 55 billion barrels he (optimistically) claims is offshore can be extracted, keep in mind that the world now consumes 30 billion barrels a year. Further, as happened in the United States 35 years ago, the worldwide peak in oil production is here or very near.

Why squander tax dollars to explore for oil, a diminishing finite commodity, when it would be better to develop alternatives to oil? There is no escaping the end of the petroleum era.

DAN BEDNARZ
Edgewood

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Smart policy

Warren Hudak's piece on "keeping energy companies armed" is an argument that needs amplification. While energy was one of the big issues in the last election, the new Congress must move cautiously on overzealous legislation that hand ties our energy companies and makes them less competitive in the global marketplace.

Many Americans continue to be outraged at energy companies' recent profits. But, as Mr. Hudak asserts, these companies are going up against state-owned entities. Additionally, the cost of thousands of employees, research, rigs around the world and a huge transportation infrastructure severely drains energy company bottom lines and contributes to their profit margins being less than the banking, pharmaceutical, household and personal products and real estate industries.

Don't get me wrong, $3-a-gallon gas doesn't excite me. But I realize that our economy runs on energy. That's why we should support lessening the restrictions on offshore drilling, keep tax breaks for refinery expansion, provide incentives for drilling domestically and, most importantly, avoid a windfall profits tax, which is a recipe for economic slowdown across the board.

Following smart energy policies like these will keep domestic and global energy supply increasing and keep prices declining.

BARRIE GIBBS
Hazelwood