STRANGER: The Seattle waterfront is arguably the most precious urban land in all of the Pacific Northwest. The fact that we have to live with a double-decked highway running smack through it is absolutely tragic. It's tantamount to parking a car in your living room.

Our waterfront should be a place where people from all around the Northwest are proud to bring out-of-town guests--not the dirty and noisy underside of a highway. Our waterfront should be a place where thousands of people go every day to experience one of Seattle's greatest treasures, as well as our culture and history--not a place for 11 lanes of traffic. Our waterfront should be a place that can host great civic events, and yet inspire peace and joy in the souls of the people who go there for a walk.

With this vision in mind, last year Allied Arts of Seattle voted to support "the undergrounding of Highway 99 from King Street to Roy Street."

Seattle City Council Member Richard Conlin's recommendation to consider a surface option for Highway 99 warrants discussion and debate. But Allied Arts has not endorsed his idea, as your paper reported ["Viaduct Vision," Sandeep Kaushik, Feb 6].

Allied Arts will address the surface option at our March 14 Beer and Culture discussion. For more information about this event or to reserve a space, please call our office at 624-0432.

David Yeaworth

President, Allied Arts of Seattle

STRANGER: Ted Rall is a pretty smart guy and has a good grasp of why "President" Bush wants Saddam Hussein dead, but he makes an error when he perpetuates the myth that war is in our human genes and is inevitable ["No Good Reason," Feb 6]. This story was started by Thomas Malthus (Malthusian: dog-eat-dog world) and promoted as late as 1981 by Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene. It seems that these people promote the theory in order to justify their own actions.

There are innumerable human societies (though the number is shrinking) that have never engaged in war because it's stupid. For details, readers might take a look (at the library or on the web) at the E. F. Schumacher Society; those looking for a bit more of a scientific approach might look up Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals or Tree of Origin (both by Frans de Waal).

Bob Clark, via e-mail

STRANGER: I was very disappointed to see such a poorly constructed argument against the war in Iraq. In "No Good Reason," Ted Rall simply made some things up, and at other times he just glided over any facts that did not help his weak case.

First, to say that Bush wants Iraq's oil is so far off base that I don't even know where to begin. Honestly, if we wanted Iraq's oil, we simply would have marched right into Baghdad in 1991; nothing was stopping us.

In addition, Mr. Rall states that North Korea "reactivated" its nuclear program because [North Korean leader Kim Jong II] was worried the U.S. was going to target [him] for regime change. This is a lie, and I am surprised that Mr. Rall thought he could get away with this lie. North Korea's nuclear program was not "reactivated," but has been ongoing for over eight years (in direct violation of signed accords) and only made it into public knowledge because the Bush administration brought it to the world's attention.

Mr. Rall also states that Afghanistan is the world's poorest country. Again, this is a lie so easy to disprove that I question Mr. Rall's intelligence in printing it. The five poorest countries in the world are all located in Africa, and all of them have a GDP per capita of less than one-eighth of Afghanistan's.

I personally think there are a host of good, truthful, and logical arguments for avoiding war with Iraq. I sincerely hope that we do not go to war in Iraq, and keep wishing that President Bush would get half a brain and realize that war is not the solution here. However, Mr. Rall makes the antiwar cause look foolish and dishonest with his writings.

Will Howe, via e-mail

KATHLEEN WILSON: Q: "How do you write about a popular local band that has just three members when one member is a close friend and another is someone you've worked with for years at The Stranger?" ["Hitting High Hopes," Feb 13.]

A: You don't.

Ethan, via e-mail

CLARIFICATIONS: In our February 6 article "Viaduct Vision," by Sandeep Kaushik, we incorrectly reported that Allied Arts supported the boulevard option for replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct. While Allied Arts President David Yeaworth says the boulevard option warrants further discussion, the organization remains committed to replacing a portion of the existing elevated structure with a tunnel.

Also: Due to a copyediting error, our February 6 story "Mayor to Cap Hill: Drop Dead," by Amy Jenniges, contained a misleading line. The Broadway Business Improvement Association will continue to pay off debts they previously incurred in the course of hosting the annual "Cirque de Broadway" festival. The festival, however, will no longer happen.

We regret the errors.