Readers Write: Oklahoma City, Memorial Day, pennies, ‘the poop rule’

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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In response to Chris Hine’s comment regarding NBA players not wishing to spend time in Oklahoma City, please allow me to comment ... (“Timberwolves in trouble after another lopsided loss in Game 2 in Oklahoma City,” StarTribune.com, May 23).

First off, thank you to Mr. Hine for singling out the American Banjo Museum as the only OKC attraction worth visiting on multiple occasions. We’re very proud of our eclectic museum and the worldwide visitors it attracts.

However, in the scope of OKC arts and culture attractions, our museum is only one of many entities that draw sincere interest and visitorship to our community. From the Oklahoma City National Memorial to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art to the Osteology Museum, ours is a culture reflective of our region as well as home to specialty attractions that provide a really positive and truthful of portrayal of our proud region.

While NBA players may not have the time nor opportunity to experience all this wonderful city has to offer, their families, friends and fans have historically left Oklahoma City with a renewed and positive outlook on what this once humble city has grown in to.

To prove this (at least from the point of view of the American Banjo Museum), we’d like to invite all Minnesota Timberwolves players, fans and friends to visit us as our guests. Just mention you’re a Minnesota Timberwolves supporter and we’ll be thrilled to welcome you ... multiple times!

Good luck, good sportsmanship and safe travels to all!

Johnny Baier, Oklahoma City

The writer is executive director of the American Banjo Museum.

Monday was Memorial Day, an important day to remember those who have died in military service to our country. A day that also brings to mind the many veterans who have served as well as those currently serving in the National Guard, reserves and active duty.

Maybe my copy of the Minnesota Star Tribune that day was missing a section, but on Page A1 the only reference to the holiday in tiny print is “PLEASANT HOLIDAY” next to the weather forecast. Page 6 has “What’s open and closed for the holiday.” Strib Voices has the first writings on Memorial Day. Page A10 has a section entitled “In Memoriam” for those people who purchased a memorial for loved ones.

Over the history of our country our military has actively supported our country and other countries to preserve and protect in conflict and natural disasters.

With fewer than 1% of people currently serving in our military, it is incumbent on the news sources to recognize their service and to educate the populace on the many roles the military provides to our nation and the world. Somehow this holiday was omitted from the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Patricia Georg, Hopkins

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Two different approaches to honoring those who died serving our country:

“We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives, that that nation might live. ... The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

“It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here, have, thus far, so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain ...” (Abraham Lincoln, 1863).

“HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL, INCLUDING THE SCUM THAT SPENT THE LAST FOUR YEARS TRYING TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY THROUGH WARPED RADICAL LEFT MINDS” (Donald Trump, 2025).

Very sad. May the memory of those who died in service to our country serve as a blessing and an inspiration to us all.

Eric Pasternack, Mendota Heights

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For me, Memorial Day is a time to remember my Dad’s cousin, Morton, who died in World War II when his plane crashed in England while returning from a mission. He, and the four others who died with him, are buried in a common grave in Arlington National Cemetery. He was Dad’s favorite cousin, and I wish I could have met him.

It’s also a time to remember Lester Danchetz, who was one year ahead of me in high school. Lester’s parents fled Hungary with him in 1956. As soon as he could, he signed up for the Army, in part so he could show his gratitude to this country. He went to Vietnam and died in July 1969. I wish Trump could have mustered an ounce of decency to talk about their sacrifices instead of his hatred of those who don’t agree with him.

Stephanie Wolkin, White Bear Township

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Speaking at Arlington National Cemetery, draft dodger Trump paid tribute to the fallen soldiers who had made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Those in attendance might have felt a rumbling underfoot. It wasn’t an earthquake. It was 400,000 veterans rolling over in their graves.

Doug Williams, Robbinsdale

The U.S. Mint has announced it will cease making pennies. Consider all the expressions in which the one-cent piece will have to be replaced by the nickel:

Et cetera ...

Bob Gordon, Minneapolis

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If Donald Trump wanted to save money by cutting the penny, why stop there? The nickel actually costs way more to make. A penny costs about 3.69 cents to produce, but a nickel costs a whopping 13.78 cents. That’s not exactly a smart trade-off.

And while we’re at it, maybe it’s time to rethink paper money, too. Bills only last about six years, while coins can stick around for over 30. Switching to coins could save a lot in the long run.

But that kind of change would take real planning and thought — not just grabbing a pen and signing an executive order that popped into his head in the middle of the night.

Greg Kjos, St. Louis Park

A content creator behind “the poop rule” approach to decluttering (“What would you save?” May 23) describes getting rid of “clothing I hadn’t worn in over six months.” That advice may work in the home state of this Instagram influencer or the Washington Post reporter who quoted her, but anyone in the Minnesota Star Tribune’s home-state climate, with its 125-degree temperature swings, would be wise not to follow it. Out-of-state, out-of-touch articles like this can go straight to lining closet shelves or chests of drawers.

Chris Steller, Minneapolis

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It was refreshing to read in the Friday, May 23 paper about poop. The first of two articles explains the benefits of penguin poop (guano) in forming clouds that seem to keep the ice cool (“Are clouds from penguin poo cooling Antarctica?”). The second article asks: If something were covered with poop, would you clean it and save it, or throw it away? I’m not writing to explain or expand on either article, but just relieved to read about something different, although of the same bodily event, than the s--- that is coming each day out of Washington.

Lynn Bollman, Minneapolis