<strong><span class="subhead">Female role models</span></strong></p><p>I just read the St. Mary&#8217;s Academy administrator&#8217;s explanation that the school prevented a female referee from officiating a game because she wasn&#8217;t a good role model for the boys (2/21, Local, &#8220;Decision on referee defended; The school&#8217;s headmaster says the issue was role models for boys, not authority over them&#8221;). Does anyone else think that it is ironic that St. Mary&#8217;s would think that women don&#8217;t make good role models? Maybe they should have thought of that before they named the school after Jesus&#8217; mom.</p><p><p align="right"><strong>Thomas Bergin</strong></p> <p align="right"><em>Leawood</em></p> <strong><span class="subhead">Shhhh!</span></strong></p><p>To the person who sat close behind me at the Folly Theater King&#8217;s Singers concert Friday night: Yes, the singers were wonderful, but your ear-shattering whistles caused me acute physical pain. As I write this more than an hour later, my ears still ache. In the future, please save such displays for the open air of Arrowhead Stadium rather than the confined space under the balcony at the Folly.</p><p><p align="right"><strong>J.B. Elfving</strong></p> <p align="right"><em>Olathe</em></p> <strong><span class="subhead">Keep information private</span></strong></p><p>We learned on <em>The Star</em>&#8217;s front page that Missouri&#8217;s Department of Revenue has been supplying private information to outside companies and some of this information may have been used by identity thieves (2/21, &#8220;Nixon sues Web site operator offering sensitive consumer data&#8221;).</p><p>This information has been gathered from Missouri residents when they apply for driver&#8217;s licenses, and has included Social Security numbers.</p><p>Regardless of the Federal Driver&#8217;s Privacy Act of 1994 &#8212; which &#8220;allows individuals and businesses to obtain information contained in a person&#8217;s driving record&#8230; for specific purposes&#8221; &#8212; I don&#8217;t think our state government has any business handing out our private information to anyone.</p><p>Our state government should stop supplying this information immediately.</p><p>I now know why I may have been a victim of credit card fraud last year.</p><p>Just by chance, I discovered that someone armed with my name, address and Social Security number was able to get Visa to send a duplicate credit card to Canada. I was able to cancel that account before any damage was done.</p><p>Missouri is slow to protect consumer&#8217;s identities. At least 39 other states have credit &#8220;freeze laws&#8221; &#8212; not Missouri. And now we learn that our state government is helping identity thieves.</p><p><p align="right"><strong>Charles L. Beucher Jr.</strong></p> <p align="right"><em>Kansas City</em></p> <strong><span class="subhead">Weather coverage</span></strong></p><p>I&#8217;m surprised at the number of letters to the editor complaining about a particular TV show being pre-empted because of weather coverage on KCTV-5.</p><p>My advice to those who are so upset about this: Get a life!</p><p><p align="right"><strong>Mary Goodwin</strong></p> <p align="right"><em>Olathe</em></p> <strong><span class="subhead">Debt relief initiative</span></strong></p><p>President Bush recently made a historic trip to Africa to review the progress of the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) and other administration-sponsored development programs in the region. He observed increased investment in health care and education made possible by MDRI debt cancellation.</p><p>Expanded debt cancellation is an essential element of any real, long-term development progress in Africa. The Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation, currently under consideration by both houses of Congress, would expand debt cancellation beyond the 23 countries that have benefited from the MDRI, and would help put an end to the kind of irresponsible lending that caused crippling debt burdens in the past.</p><p>In Tanzania, debt relief led to a 50 percent increase in primary school enrollment. In Ghana, funds were freed to rehabilitate the transportation infrastructure and to support education and health initiatives.