I was born and raised in Provo and am a dyed-in-the-wool, true-blue, through-and-through Cougar. I would like to write and congratulate the Utes and Coach "Whit" for an outstanding and most amazing season and congratulate your team on its bowl game victory over the 'Bama Crimson Tide.

What a great year for the Utes! You played well and showed the country you deserve all the respect in the world

"Alabama wouldn't even recruit any of the players on the Utah football team..." Switzer is an idiot and owes us all, but mostly the players, an apology.

Truthfully, we just have to hope that these new appointments are able to turn things around for the United States. Rome wasn't built in a day, and the Bush administration's failings will be just as difficult to repair.

As a gun owner and recreational shooter I take offense to Emily Rodriguez-Vargas' insinuation that owning guns and shooting them for recreation turns people into homicidal, violence-loving maniacs ("Guns shouldn't be recreational," Dec. 11).

Although these setups might seem fine and dandy for many students, a closer look will show that most of these workstations are an ergonomic nightmare, sometimes entirely unusable, and a potential health hazard for anyone who uses them.

If the legitimate purpose of a gun is to be able to defend yourself, when you are assaulted you are going to need to tap into some major aggression in order to kill the other guy before they kill you.

This holiday season, just like every year, throngs of eager shoppers are mobbing the nearest retailer with one simple intention: Buy, buy, buy.

The once-high values of America are found in the gun-loving hands of individuals seeking not to combat real problems such as war, crime and poverty, but to exercise their freedom to the fullest extent for recreation.

Once again, The Chronicle has published an inane, rambling letter written by ASUU President Patrick Reimherr ("Corequisite not a burden," Dec. 10) that serves no function other than to bore readers, toot his own horn and fill space