My child has already had at least three snow days and more delays this winter.

The Martin Luther King Day holiday and teacher in-service days have already caused him to miss two weeks of his Scholars' (gifted) program, and the delay due to the Super Bowl will be the third week running he misses this important enrichment.

I am so angry as to be practically incoherent. Superintendent Mark Roosevelt thinks it's OK to ditch school because our students may stay up late to watch the game? Because teachers may call out? Because parents may not be able to get their kids to school on time because they've been up late?

Grow up. Be an adult. Be an example to our kids.

I am as excited about the Steelers' achievements as anyone, but this action is irresponsible at best.

VAL SWEENEY

Highland Park

Just look outside

Whatever happened to the city of Pittsburgh's plan to redraw snow removal routes? It's obvious that no new plan has been established by just looking at the snow removal -- or the lack of it -- on streets in my neighborhood and elsewhere in the city ("Complaints Mount Over City Snow Removal," Jan. 30). And I'm not just talking about the lack of it during and after the ice storm that occurred Jan. 28.

It seems that whether a certain city street is salted depends on who is driving the truck at the time of a given storm. It's never the same for two snowstorms in a row. However, you can't blame the drivers if they have no snow removal route to follow.

Perhaps elected city officials haven't had the time to establish the new snow removal routes because they were too busy worrying about whether they were going to be given tickets to the Super Bowl ("Political Football: Steelers Tickets Hard to Get," Jan. 24), and, if so, whether they'd have to pay for them.

CHUCK MOODY

Overbrook

A slap to us all

Regarding snow removal: What a shame it is to live and work in Pittsburgh and pay $52 a year out of my paycheck plus other taxes to the city, state and county and not be able to get up and down my street in Brookline or do my job in a safe manner driving a truck up and down Route 28.

Shame on you, mayor; shame on you, governor; and shame on you, county of Allegheny.

I'm a lifelong Democrat who might have to change. Even with the warning that we had about snow last Wednesday, it still took three hours or longer to do anything about it. That's a slap in the face to every taxpayer in the state.

MICHAEL DAVIN

Brookline

Two-in-one run

My block -- 500 Meridan Street, Mount Washington -- hadn't seen a salt truck all week until late Friday afternoon.

So, as I sit there wondering what you have to do to get your street salted, I had an idea: Why not put snowplows on the garbage trucks? It is not my intention to overburden the sanitation workers, who do a wonderful job, but at least the streets could get plowed once a week.

SHARON BRADY

Mount Washington

It will fall to Pa.

The announced shortfall of dollars to complete the North Shore Connector comes as no surprise ("Funding Shortage Could Stall Rail Project," Jan. 23). When then-Sen. Rick Santorum announced the federal grant of almost $500 million, I wrote him and posed the following questions. He never responded, but the questions should have been addressed prior to blowing these tax dollars. My questions were:

1. How do you justify spending almost $500 million to replace a five-minute bus ride?

2. How many passengers will use the system? Ridership determines the fares. There are not enough riders who work on the North Shore or go to the stadiums to make the tunnels economically feasible. To use the tunnels from the town side, the cost of parking is prohibitive in the city.

3. The responsibility for operation, repair and maintenance goes to the Port Authority. Its record of deficits is well known. Tunnels are a high-maintenance item under the earth. One can only guess the cost of maintaining them under water.

4. My final question to the senator was, with some 100-plus bridges needing repair, could the money be diverted to a known need?

If the feds do not come up with the shortfall, there is only one money source, and that is the taxpayers of Pennsylvania.

DON OPACIC

Franklin Park

Her flag folly

Regarding Joan Kosinski's Jan. 21 letter ("My Flag Flies Again"): I appreciate her strapping on her boots, tromping through the snow and replacing the American flag in her yard.

While she may have disagreed with President Bush's decision to invade Iraq, and his decision to do so caused her to remove her flag from her yard, it would have been nice if she had thought of our servicemen and -women prior to doing so.

The fact is, those in our military service were sent into harm's way. I wonder if any of her neighbors had a husband, wife, son or daughter dispatched to the Iraq theater? I wonder what their thoughts were when they noticed Ms. Kosinski had chosen to strike her flag?

It is certainly her right to remove her flag from display, but I hardly understand how the inauguration of a different president determines when she decides to let it fly. Many a mother and father have wept upon the return of their fallen loved ones, whose caskets have been draped with that very flag. Maybe you might keep your flag on display in honor of those soldiers who have yet to return home, we pray, safely. Their service and sacrifice transcend politics.

There are a variety of ways to denounce or disagree with the decisions our leaders make. In my opinion, hers was not a very well thought-out one.

J. SWEITZER

Kennedy