Patrick Foley, Northfield
The news about Camp One Heartland closing is so amazing that even I heard about it here in St. Louis. (“For northern Minnesota camp, closure is ‘greatest story,’ ” Dec. 27). I celebrate that mother-to-child transmission of HIV is so small in America that the need doesn’t exist for a camp dedicated to HIV-positive kids. As a Minnesota teen in the 1980s with a mother working in public health, the stigma and heartbreak surrounding HIV/AIDS didn’t seem to me like something that would ever go away.
I wish this were the case everywhere. Although HIV/AIDS has decreased worldwide, low-income nations still lag behind wealthy countries. The U.S. is a leader in supporting global HIV/AIDS programs like the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which has saved 25 million lives and provided treatment to at least 20 million people in just two decades. Even better, it provides resources and infrastructure to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, so present AIDS-afflicted areas might have the same success as Minnesota! Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith should support a five-year reauthorization for PEPFAR this year.
Cynthia Changyit Levin, St. Louis
Before Jan. 20, President Joe Biden has been pardoning many people, which is his privilege. My hope as a Vietnam veteran is that he uses this opportunity to pardon 25 deported veterans now living in Tijuana, Mexico. These men were honorably discharged but undocumented people who, after service, got into scraps with the authorities and were deported. If they committed crimes, they should receive whatever punishment is deserved from our criminal justice system. But deporting them denies them access to their VA benefits. This is a disgrace! When a very small segment of our eligible men and women do serve in the military, the people who step up are punished. And while you’re at it, Mr. President, pardon Leonard Peltier!
Dave Logsdon, Minneapolis
