Who's to blame?
Elliot Hughes' one-sided and anti-police article "Fighting for a Friend" (5/17/2013) seems to give the impression that Officer Stephen Heimsness was doing anything but protecting the citizens of this city when he shot Paul Heenan.
Let's take a deeper look: Heenan was intoxicated, broke into a home, was fighting on the street with another man, and Officer Heimsness shows up, with the knowledge of a call that someone had broken into a home. Officer Heimsness was supposed to do what? Have a peace conference?
The fact that the Royko Maurers have no room for personal responsibility for their drunk and nonresponsive friend and yet lay all the blame on a man who is "just doing his job" is typical in this day and age of blaming others for our own actions.
Marv Turner
Thank you for the article regarding protest of the Paul Heenan killing and exoneration of the killer, Stephen Heimsness. Considering the details of the "last resort" shooting and Heimsness' record, it boggles the mind why after six months he's still drawing paychecks. The only thing worse is if he returns to active duty.
Terry Farley
Water demand
I was very gratified to read the in-depth article on Madison's water resources and the serious attention it is receiving from the Capital Area Regional Planning Commission ("Will Madison Run Dry?" 5/17/2013). CARPC's deputy director, Kamran Mesbah, frankly articulated the real threat to our water resources due to climate change. Climate change is already negatively affecting agricultural production, and the mining and transportation of fossils fuels despoil and threaten our precious lakes, rivers and aquifers.
While we can live more sustainably as individuals, our city, state and national governing bodies must step up to make the big changes. The most dramatic and effective change would be a revenue-neutral carbon tax that would return all monies back to U.S. citizens in a monthly "green" check. This would incentivize both consumers and businesses to cut back on their fossil fuel usage, provide a more level playing field for sustainable, clean energy; promote more R&D, investment in and capitalization of clean energy; and generate job growth. We should demand it!
Margaret Welke