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A brilliant career

I am extremely disappointed with your obituary coverage. Every time there is a death of an obscure local personality, a lawyer, politician, professor or media TV celebrity, it usually warrants a quarter page or more.

On April 6, a former chief of the Winnipeg Fire Department, Jack Coulter, passed away at the age of 90. A memorial service for him was held at the Churchill Park United Church on April 27.

As a retired firefighter myself, let me tell you about some of Coulter's accomplishments.

He joined the fire department at age 19. He then volunteered to serve overseas in Southampton, England, as a firefighter during the blitz. After two years of fighting fires there, he returned to his career of fighting fires here. He worked his way up the ranks, and after 421/2 years of service, he retired as chief.

After his retirement, he was one of the founding board members of the Winnipeg Fire Department Historical Society and was instrumental, along with former mayor Bill Norrie, in obtaining the rights to use the old fire station No. 3 as a museum.

In 1982, he was a driving force, along with author Vince Leah, in producing the book Alarm of Fire, a history of the Winnipeg Fire Department. This was followed in 2004 by a second book, We Hold Thee Safe, to which Coulter was a valuable contributor at the age of 80-plus.

LARRY KLASSEN

Winnipeg

Blatant objectification

The May 1 Beetle Bailey comic strip depicts the attractive Miss Buxley clothes shopping. Her boss, the army captain and "fashion consultant," tells her the neckline of the dress she is trying on is "too high."

Pardon me? This comic strip may be set in a male-dominated army, but that does not excuse its blatant objectification and sexualization of women.

This is not the first time Miss Buxley has been treated like a sex object, and probably not the last.

How about the Winnipeg Free Press gets with the times and dumps any contributors that promote regression?

SVITLANA MALUZYNSKY

Winnipeg

Reinvest in economy

Re: Feds notify 3,800 their jobs may go (May 1). Some cuts are necessary. We do, after all, have a bloated federal deficit partly due to wasteful spending.

But at least some of the money saved from these cuts should be transferred to other high-return departments so it can be reinvested back into the economy through infrastructure development.

This, in turn, will help lead to more new jobs in the private sector, which is the ultimate goal.

PAUL BROWN

Winnipeg

Confused by difference

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from a senior provincial official inviting me to attend at the legislature to witness a resolution being presented by his minister.

A couple of days ago I received an email from a senior city official inviting me to attend at city hall to witness the mayor and the federal minister Vic Toews announcing a federal initiative to provide funding for housing the homeless.

According to your editorial Twice wrong (April 28), one of these invitations was a dastardly partisan act worthy of the severest sanctions and the other wasn't a matter of concern.

I'm confused. Which, if either, of these invitations was worthy of having your editorial writer's knickers in a knot and why?

MARTY DOLIN

Winnipeg

Grave consequences

Re: Canada's secret battles (April 30). Your editorial makes the excellent point that Canadian Forces serving with foreign units around the world should be known to the Canadian public. One reason is that there may be instances where such service could have grave consequences.

After Jean Chrétien's decision to keep Canada out of Iraq, the CBC's Peter Mansbridge interviewed an opponent of that decision on The National. "Why should we join the war in Iraq?" asked Mansbridge. "To support our troops," replied the interviewee.

Mansbridge's face had a look of disbelief. You mean to say that we should go to war in Iraq because we have a few soldiers serving with U.S. forces on an exchange? asked Mansbridge. "Yes," replied the guest, "we should support our troops." The name of the guest was Stephen Harper.

ROGER TURENNE

Winnipeg

Definition of person

Thanks to Tom Oleson for his April 28 column, Abortion should be debated continuously, regarding the discussion surrounding the beginning of life.

A parallel thought in terms of defining human and person: Since that which lives in a mother's womb is human (what else can it be?), and since that human has no rights because that human is not considered a person, in order to be consistent, the national treasure being built at The Forks should be called the museum of persons' rights.

ANTHON BUOW

Selkirk

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Regarding Tom Oleson's column, a woman's right to choose is a euphemism for what? I fail to understand the parallel he is drawing.

The right to choose is crystal clear. It is exactly that -- the right to choose. It stands for nothing else.

It does not give women the right to "murder their fetuses with impunity." It gives women the right to have control over their own bodies.

I don't see the issue of the "right to choose" being a euphemism for abortion or political correctness.

AVA BLOCK SUPER

Winnipeg

Short-term gain

By deciding to allocate the new Manitoba area code, 431, to new numbers, the powers that be have opted for short-term gain and long-term pain.

In the short term, no one will be inconvenienced or upset by having their existing area code changed; only newly issued numbers will have the new area code.

In the long term, though, this continues the regrettable practice of using the same area code, and now two area codes, for numbers both within and outside the Winnipeg free-calling area. We will still to be unable to distinguish a Winnipeg number from a non-Winnipeg number by its area code.

Having one area code for numbers in Winnipeg and the other for numbers outside Winnipeg makes so much more sense.

MATTHIAS LAUCHT

Winnipeg

Family welcome

Re: Opposition howls as Black is allowed back into Canada (May 1). Recent drastic changes to federal policies regarding family reunification, sponsorships and the delivery of language and settlement programs are making it more difficult for worthy applicants to establish viable lives for themselves and their families in Canada.

How very ironic that, at the same time the federal Department of Citizenship and Immigration is restricting access to Canada for law-abiding folks from around the world, it welcomes Conrad Black, a convicted criminal who voluntarily and cynically discarded his Canadian citizenship years ago to pursue his egomaniacal dreams elsewhere.

Will the minister, Jason Kenney, or the prime minister help me explain this to the new Canadians in my English classes who have tried unsuccessfully for years to sponsor family members in difficult circumstances?

HAROLD NEUFELD

Winnipeg

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 3, 2012 A11