As bar owners continue to host "theater night" and pack in people, when will the message reach state agencies and the Legislature that Minnesotans' rights as business owners are being restricted by intrusive legislation?

The state Department of Health, in the March 5 article, claims that bar owners are violating the spirit of the ban ("Health officials to bars: No more theatrics," March 6). Why is it OK for the "spirit" of free enterprise and the constitutional right to pursue happiness to be ruthlessly savaged by the state of Minnesota's governing bodies?

The notion that smoking is bad for you and those around you is a debate of agreeable differences. The fact that society wants to trample upon the rights of a business owner is tragic. The state should reverse the smoking ban and replace it with an ordinance that requires all bars and restaurants to display on the outside of their building if they are smoking or nonsmoking establishments. If society truly believes that smoking is bad, then the smoking establishments will lose patronage and employees. Let the market dictate the rules of the game.

CHRIS LUND, HAMBURG

Relying on the mercurial kindness of impound lot operators A March 15 letter writer claims that he and most other impound lot operators already give access to essential items to anyone whose vehicle they have impounded, and that Nick Coleman's column ("Bill would give those living in cars right to last few possessions," March 13), is exaggerated.

As a social worker, my professional experience has been more similar to what Coleman described, in which a man who is homeless is denied access to all of his possessions, including items of purely sentimental value and important papers valued only by their owner, because he is unable to pay the $200 impound fee, plus daily surcharges of $30. I have had clients lose identity documents, their children's health insurance cards, important contact information for loved ones and keys to friends' apartments, all because they were unable to pay the ransom charged by impound lot operators. These are not people who want, in the letter writer's words, their "50 CDs" that they carelessly left in an uninsured vehicle.

When individuals who are homeless have their car towed (something that can happen to even the most law-abiding citizens who make a simple snow emergency mistake), they are essentially locked out of their homes. Because most individuals who are living in their cars cannot afford to pay the excessive fees charged by impound lots, they stand to have their possessions auctioned off with their cars. In the age of identity theft, the thought of auctioning off one's Social Security card, birth certificate and photo identification seems almost criminal. In addition, the loss of many items of purely sentimental value, such as letters from loved ones and photographs, adds insult to injury. By denying individuals access to their medications, impound lot operators are putting lives at risk in order to pad their bottom line.

Minnesotans who are experiencing the hardships of homelessness need our compassion and assistance; they do not need impound lot operators auctioning off their possessions. The letter writer may feel that relying on the supposed kindness of impound lot operators is enough; however, in my experience, his claims that people usually have access to the essentials rings false.

SARA WALTONEN, NEW BRIGHTON

A more refined protection act U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann's March 15 column would have us believe that the expiration of the Protect America Act leaves us in imminent peril of attack, but actually the act was allowed to expire in order to pass a more refined act, HR 3373. This new bill restates that FISA remains the exclusive means to authorize electronic surveillance. As far as the Senate voting to reauthorize the original act, even the Senate's chief author, Chairman John Rockefeller, agrees that many of the House provisions improve the Senate bill.

JOHN COLE, PLYMOUTH

A fear-mongering reelection campaign Michele Bachmann is running her campaign on fear and intimidation in the Sixth District for the U.S. House of Representatives. President Bush invaded Iraq five years ago and the next Republican candidate for president plans on staying for another 100 years; what else can she base her campaign on but fear itself. The U.S. economy is in full-blown recession and Bachmann wants to keep running up our national debt so we continue the slide down as a financially weak nation whose debt is now held by the other nations of the world.

DON KERR, BLAINE

Kersten's clear distaste for Muslim people Thank you, Kevin Featherly (Counterpoint, March 15), for pointing out the unfairness and inaccuracy of Katherine Kersten's latest attack on Minnesotan Muslims (March 9). Asad Zaman and the leaders of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota are positive forces in the American community who encourage their members to participate in mainstream organizations. It is shameful that the Star Tribune allows Kersten to smear upstanding community organizations by using farfetched guilt-by-association to liken them to terrorists.

Kersten's ruse is to claim that what really offends her is the violation of American values such as church-state separation. What a coincidence that she only seems to run into these violations when they are committed by Muslims -- a statistical miracle, given that Muslims are at most 3 percent of Minnesota's population. We suspect she would be quite content with the same actions by followers a religion she's more comfortable with. From her dehumanized descriptions of Muslims, it becomes clear that her distaste is for Muslim people themselves.

DANIEL LYNX BERNARD, ST. PAUL