A warning for UW chancellor

Sunday's State Journal editorial wished new UW Chancellor Biddy Martin well in her workings with the Wisconsin Legislature when she begins her new position. Here are a few warnings about the Legislature:

The modern Republican Party, which controls the Assembly, is about reducing taxes for the wealthy and large corporations, so she shouldn't expect corporations to pay their fair share to support the UW System. Because the GOP mistrusts government and believes in the private sector running everything, they will continue their attempt to make the UW System more dependent on private funding.

It will be essential for Martin to show the Legislature and the public that UW education is best run and funded by government. She must convince the GOP, Wisconsin corporations and Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce that business input in the UW System is essential, but they cannot "run the show."

If she views her job with these ideas in mind, UW students and faculty and Wisconsin's citizens and corporations will be in good shape for years to come.

-- John Murphy, Madison

Supporters of some 47th Assembly District candidates continue to portray other candidates in negative ways. It's refreshing to learn more about candidate Keith Ripp and the honest, hardworking, family values person that he is.

He is meeting with people at their homes, listening to their concerns to gain an understanding of how he can serve the people of the district. I would rather have a leader who goes to work and gets the job done, instead of a person who just talks about it.

Ripp understands the issues facing the district because he is enduring the same issues on a daily basis. As a self-employed farmer, he faces the economic burdens of higher fuel and health care costs. As a small business owner, he has to live within a budget, and he understands the importance of health care for his family as well as his employees.

Just as Ripp is accountable to the bottom line in his business, the government needs to be accountable for their budget to be good stewards of our tax dollars.

Ripp is a man of integrity, accountability and honesty, and he has a solid work ethic just like the voters of the 47th district. I'm proud to support Keith Ripp for Assembly.

-- MaryEllen Karls, Waunakee

O'Neil will work to revitalize Legislature

Trish O'Neil is the best candidate to represent the people of the 47th Assembly District. She has the knowledge, experience and leadership qualities necessary to address and solve the complex issues facing us.

She will work across the aisle to formulate and pass campaign and lobbying finance reform to restore integrity and trust in our legislative process and help remove the gridlock that has paralyzed the Assembly for years.

She will work to fix our broken, inequitable tax system that hinders small businesses, bankrupts school systems and burdens middle income taxpayers by closing financial loopholes that protect corporate interests. It is the responsibility of the Legislature to re-establish competitive balance to our economy.

The citizens of Wisconsin are entitled to the same quality health care that is enjoyed by our legislators. Too many of us are uninsured or underinsured, forcing people to avoid cheaper preventative care that would eliminate the expensive emergency interventions that cost all of us.

O'Neil will use her medical knowledge to develop an affordable health care system for everyone that emphasizes prevention, early intervention and education. Everyone will pay their fair share and the taxpayers and businesses will see the benefit of lower health care costs.

We need Trish O'Neil in the Assembly because she has the skills, passion and knowledge to make a better Wisconsin.

-- Wayne Sharpee, Rio

Edgewood's drunken students plague area

Perhaps overshadowed by the highly publicized drinking culture at UW-Madison, Edgewood College's own drinking culture receives hardly any notice. This is too bad, as members of the Vilas Neighborhood from Regent Street to Edgewood Avenue can tell you.

Now that Edgewood College is back in session, so, too, is the crawling parade of drunk students who make their way home in the early morning hours from Regent to the new Edgewood dormitory. I was treated recently to the shouts of one woman to another to "roll over and puke" so she would feel better. This unseemly behavior suggests that the college's efforts to "cultivate in our students a sense of their role in contributing to the common good" have a long way to go.

My neighbors and I hoped the college would take last year's complaints about this frequent behavior to heart, but apparently the college has decided instead to leave matters as they were. Where once the college and community enjoyed cordial relations, now there is tension and strife.

Perhaps Edgewood College administrators need to spend more time reflecting on how they might preserve that "scenic residential area near the heart of Madison" in which they boast pride of place.

-- Larry Shapiro, Madison

Time to reorder highway priorities

A recent letter commenting on the "jug handle" intersection proposed to alleviate traffic congestion at Mineral Point Road and Highway M was on the mark.

This most unorthodox design will likely be a modest improvement, but what is really needed is a full interchange and four-lane divided road on Highway M.

I know highway budgets are tight, but Dane County needs to get its priorities back on track. I'm only surprised that the proposed solution is not just another senseless roundabout or traffic calming device.

-- Dave Strand, Fitchburg

Consequences of 'victimless violence'

It's 4 a.m., an early morning on a quiet street on the Near West Side of Madison. I'm sleeping on my new couch, listening for cars or footsteps, only half asleep. My house is lighted up literally like a Christmas tree.

I get up to look out the window to see my neighbor, whose car had just been stolen a week ago, standing in his front room window too, new porch and garage lights installed.

We are both -- we are all -- watching. We are all more vigil. We are restless, sleepless and angry.

In one week on one street, we've had gas siphoning, vandalism and thefts, and we live in a "nice" neighborhood near Hilldale. It's not as nice this week, though. We are just told we are temporarily being targeted, all will be well. Yet we have friends standing guard during the day.

Sometimes the bogeymen in the closet, under the bed or in your head are very real and they can leave a whole neighborhood frightened and asking "why us?" and "why now?" Why not more forces on such issues?

There are no neighborhood meetings here yet, but maybe that would be a balm. Maybe.

-- Sandra and Robert Saul, Madison

Reason to reconsider state death penalty

After reading "Growing old -- and costly -- in prison" on Aug. 22, I am wondering why we keep these monsters alive. I say be humane, give them pain medication and let them die.

With all the light punishments being given to those who want to hurt the rest of us, it's time to bring back the death penalty to Wisconsin.

Why do we keep repeating offenders alive? It's a big waste of time. Maybe others on the outside would think twice if we had the death penalty. "An eye for an eye" makes sense to me.

-- Chuck Volkey, Lake Delton