Have your say

The chemical solution

While reading the May 19 feature Weeding out the chemicals, I only had to think back two weeks ago when we were visiting in Ontario. We could not believe how infested the province is with dandelions. Most every lawn, all the parks and roadsides were covered in yellow.

I noticed several homeowners were trying to keep ahead by digging them out by hand, but you cannot get the whole root, so they will just re-emerge. I am hoping our province will look to the east and see what a mess so called "green spaces" have become.

ARNIE PRIES

Winnipeg

--

Many valid points are raised in Weeding out the chemicals as to why we should have a ban on some pesticides under certain conditions. Not the least is the possible higher long-term risk of cancer.

Another important point to consider is many people, particularly those with allergies and chemical sensitivities, are made ill in the short term when exposed to pesticides. Also, something that must remain at the forefront of decision-making is unknown effects on the young.

We now know exposure of a fetus to alcohol and some drugs can have devastating long-term effects. Where are the sound scientific studies showing exposure to pesticides and their so-called inert ingredients on the unborn and young children have no long-term adverse effects?

MARG FRIESEN

Winnipeg

--

If we put our trust in the scientists at Health Canada to tell us which pharmaceuticals are safe for us to take, then we should accept the weed-control products they approve are also safe.

We use chemicals every day for cosmetic reasons. People paint their houses, we wash our cars, women wear makeup, and lawns are treated with fertilizers and weed controls.

In a modern world chemicals are used to make our lives better.

DILLON VINCENT

East St. Paul

Artless message

Re: Prime Minister's new clothes (May 19). Whatever message that artist Margaret Sutherland is trying to convey seems to fall short of its goal.

Aside from the body being rather disproportionate, the arm resting on a leg suggests promiscuity more than anything. The painting is suggestive and disappointing, to say the least. Once again, nudity is used for an artist's five minutes of fame.

DOLLY DENNIS

Rosser

Courage and integrity

Re: One less curmudgeon (Letters, May 22). Tom Oleson and I had a good, if one-sided, friendship. He never knew I existed, but I felt I knew him. A columnist may not realize how much of himself is revealed in his writings. It was so with Oleson.

"Speak your truth quietly and clearly," advises the Desiderata, and so he did. His courage, intelligence, integrity and wit shone through his work. Uniquely ignoring political correctness (a blight of our time), Oleson spoke out on issues most would not touch with tongs. He had standards, and beliefs, spoke them freely and stood by them unflinchingly.

As a reader I delighted in Oleson. As a fellow traveller in many ways, as a Christian and proud Canadian (of Icelandic heritage) I admired him greatly. I wept when he died.

DAWN MacFARLANE

Selkirk

Preventable situation

Re: Man defends shooting dog caring for pups (May 19). Not only was this situation tragic, it was also preventable. How can the owners of Blizzard refer to her as their "beloved" pet?

They go to Toronto and leave their "beloved" pet and her pups behind to wander loose all over the countryside. Apparently, this dog also had previous litters. Have these people not heard of spaying or neutering?

This is irresponsible pet ownership at its finest, and unfortunately the dogs suffered from the ignorance of the owners. Living in the country does not give one license to be an irresponsible pet owner.

MAUREEN HEIDE

Winnipeg

Place for serenity

Re: A Central Park for The Forks (May 18). Richard Hurst is bang on when he says a fantastic park should be developed in Parcel Four at The Forks now that the water-park proposal has met a well-deserved death.

When the Canadian Museum for Human Rights is eventually finished, I can envisage myself needing a serene place to walk and to contemplate what I have just experienced and witnessed.

A number of years ago, after having visited the Dachau death camp on the outskirts of Munich, my friend and I were both physically and emotionally shaken up. It would have helped immensely if we had a park through which to stroll in order to contemplate, to talk and to try to come to grips with what we had just witnessed.

Instead, we got back onto a bus until we eventually spotted a bar where we could sit quietly and try to deal with what we had just experienced.

In a park such as Hurst has envisaged at The Forks, we could contemplate what we have just experienced and would not be ushered right back into the hurly, burly of the world too quickly.

BRIAN NORRIS

Winnipeg

--

A wonderful idea for the space at The Forks would be something Winnipeg already has -- the train ride that used to be housed at the McPhillips Station Casino. It was Winnipeg's best-kept secret and what a shame.

If you never had the chance to visit it or be aware of it, it took you back in time to the Ice Age in Manitoba. You saw the history of Manitoba as it progressed.

It speaks of the two rivers meeting, the floods, Lower Fort Garry, the Métis and much more.

It was a treasure most Winnipeggers and Manitobans never saw because of poor advertising. It was a mini-Disneyworld.

VAL FRIESEN

Winnipeg

Cutting both ways

Roger Kingsley's May 18 missive regarding tax assessments is not only misleading, but self-contradictory. In referring to changes in tax assessments he says, "they do not cause an increase or decrease in the taxes," He then says "for every dollar extra paid by a homeowner because of reassessment there is a dollar less paid by some other homeowner because of the same assessment."

In effect, tax assessments cause both increases and decreases. There may not be any net change to all taxpayers as a whole, but I doubt the homeowner facing the increase in taxes would agree with Kingsley that he has not been hit with a "triple whammy." The middle class again takes the hit while others reap the benefit.

LAURIE ETKIN

Winnipeg

It's in the bag

Somebody has to say it and no one has. Love the clear bag the paper arrives in. My paper is dry, clean and intact.

My present of news is waiting for me every morning at 6 a.m. Being a dog owner, I find that the bag does extra duty at 7 a.m. Keep it up, Free Press.

IAN STEWART

Winnipeg

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 24, 2012 A11