The Dec. 23 story regarding the proposed Southern Beltway construction is a prime example of how Pennsylvania leadership continues to misuse road funds ("Transportation Funds May Be Diverted for Beltway Construction"). This unnecessary 13.3-mile stretch of roadway will come at a projected cost of $659 million. A well-managed organization should be able to construct roads at a fraction of that cost. This cost indicates grossly wasteful spending.

But how can the higher-ups in Pennsylvania government allow so much money to be spent on an unnecessary roadway when we have hundreds of vital bridges in desperate need of repair and thousands of miles of existing roads needing improvement?

Wouldn't the taxpayers of southwestern Pennsylvania be much better served if the Parkway West were widened from two lanes to three in each direction? That would reduce everyone's travel time to and from the airport, without requiring the destruction of thousands of acres of rural land that will be forcefully taken through eminent domain to create an empty roadway.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, just take a drive on Route 43 from Jefferson to California, or on Route 60 North from the airport to the turnpike -- two prime examples of beautiful land taken from property owners and destroyed to create empty highways that serve far too few to be worth their cost.

Southwestern Pennsylvania has been experiencing a population decline the past 30 to 40 years. It's ridiculous to keep spending money creating more roads for fewer people. We should spend taxpayers' money to improve the roads we already have. And we should certainly be able to build roads for less than $49 million per mile! We deserve to have sharper people running PennDOT and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission!

DIRK TAYLOR
Mt. Lebanon

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In the Dec. 23 PG "Asides," you went out of your way to welcome the National Rifle Association's money to Pittsburgh but chastise the organization for standing in the way of "reasonable gun control." That doesn't fly, and you know it.

The most recent legislation sent to the president, the National Instant Check Improvement Act, is clearly bipartisan and supported by both the NRA and the most anti-gun legislators (Sen. Charles Schumer, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy and others come to mind). As far as reasonable gun control, are you positing that the nearly 20,000 gun laws on the books right now are all unreasonable?

Gun violence can be stopped, but by education or prison time, not by infringing on my rights as a citizen and a human being. Those who commit crimes with guns should be incarcerated.

Some "unreasonable" legislation here in Pennsylvania calls for mandatory prison time if a crime involves a gun. I'd challenge you to find out how many are in jail serving the minimums set forth by commonwealth statute.

Here are a few quotes by some folks who put considerable time into creating a republic: Thomas Jefferson said, "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms."

Samuel Adams said, "[T]he said Constitution [shall] be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press, or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms."

George Washington called the private collections of arms "the people's liberty's teeth."

America must always preserve the right to keep and bear arms. To do any less is to invite oppression and tyranny, not to mention acts of violence.

JOHN F. DeLALLO JR.
Johnstown

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The Jan. 25 discovery of the gamma radiation burst in the constellation Gemini 9.4 billion light years away is a major astronomical achievement ("Astronomers Still Can't Figure Out 'Shot in Dark,' " Dec. 21). This event is even more awesome because it took place 9.4 billion years ago, long before Earth began to exist. Given that amount of time, Gemini must look very different today -- if it still exists at all.

RENE J. DUQUESNOY
Oakland

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It is apparent that the PG is taking baby steps in educating us on energy issues. In "Trade Nukes for Gas" (Dec. 16 Forum), the author focuses exclusively on the dangers of radiation as he makes a case to phase out the aging nuclear plants.

Some environmental groups now see nuclear energy as a reasonable alternative to curb the emission of carbon dioxide.

Natural gas fields are also prone to rapid declines, and the industry has to run just to stay in place; we need to conserve natural gas for our heating needs as well.

Coal with its 40 percent efficiency, CO2 emissions and slew of other pollutants would be a choice only because this is a coal-producing region, and at least we won't be burning energy moving it around if we use it here.

I saw no mention of the possibility or necessity of curtailing usage of electricity. If the United States used as much per capita as California or Europe, then perhaps we would not need these plants. In Switzerland you cannot run an electric clothes dryer in the daytime. Some cities here have tried time-of-day metering to curb usage. We need to get serious on this for so many reasons, chief among them: It is far easier to fund the capital costs of our renewable future -- wind or solar -- if we use less.

The author also does not mention the actual rates of cancer, while telling us that the rates have gone up. Should we not be comparing these dangers with dangers of burning coal, for example ?

Finally, nuclear power comes with all its attendant evils of high capital costs, wastes etc. This would all the more make it imperative that we recover all these costs from our existing facilities that have these costs embedded in them. We won't be turning them into playgrounds any time soon anyway.

KRISHNASWAMY RAMESH
Cranberry

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Forget the steroids and the baseball players. I want to know what the people working for the state Legislature were using. These people put in 40 hours a week, put in enough extra time and effort to merit millions in bonuses, and then traveled and campaigned beyond that ("Bonus Pay Spread Over Party Lines," Dec. 17). Whatever BALCO was pushing can't compare to whatever substance these state employees were taking.

Maybe state Attorney General Tom Corbett should petition George Mitchell to assist in this investigation.

Did you hear about the guy who was on the state payroll for less than seven months and still received a bonus of more than $19,000? Anybody who works on commission would want to purchase whatever gives someone that much energy. These are public servants; why won't they reveal the secret?

Finally, I read that our legislators are applauding themselves about the new open records law that is being proposed. Just when they had a chance to do something good and enact the best law in the nation, they brought us from bottom to average.

This is what we get from our public servants: mediocrity. Are these the people we want to re-elect?

DON SHERIDAN
Cresson, Cambria County

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You have to admire megalomaniacs. If you don't, they will have you killed, so for your own sake, it's just better to admire them.

Benazir Bhutto was the latest megalomaniac to ride off to Valhalla taking numerous innocent souls and a few zealots with her ("Pakistan in Turmoil After Assassination," Dec. 28). She knew what was going to go down if she returned to Pakistan. Ms. Bhutto knew that her return was going to cause riots and death, but that didn't stop her because her cause was just.

MSNBC ran a sound bite Thursday of Ms. Bhutto being interviewed by Ann Curry. Ms. Bhutto was asked why she didn't remain in Dubai or London, where she had been in self-imposed exile since 1998. Ms. Curry reminded her that she was safe there with her family around her. Ms. Bhutto's response was that she was the only hope for Pakistan.

Wow, that is some heavy self-esteem. Was she descended from the heavens or just delusional?

As I said, you have to admire megalomaniacs or (barring that) knock them off before they bring their causes down on your head.

We here in the United States have more than our fair share of strident citizens who believe they can save us from ourselves, so lock and load when you see them coming to your town.

On Friday CNN was reporting that Ms. Bhutto died from a fractured skull caused by hitting her head on part of her car's sunroof as a result of the bombing. The United States will get the blame now: a disgruntled autoworker from Detroit?

ROB TRAPPEN
Arnold

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