Have your say

Worsening the situation

Certainly Sel Burrows (Withhold grants from schools that fail to stop dropouts, June 29) has a point: Poor student attendance in some Winnipeg schools is tragic. But the fault lies not primarily with the Winnipeg School Division. What, exactly, does Burrows want the division to do other than worsen the situation by withholding grants?

In my experience as a teacher, vice-principal and principal at all grade levels, I have invariably found a direct correlation between a community's financial comfort and active engagement with the school and student attendance. Kids in healthy, strong communities show up for school more regularly than kids who come from communities that are poor in material goods and lifestyle.

Not all attentive parents live in a particular kind of district, but the relationship between attendance and home life is distinct. Irregular school attendance is a symptom that cannot be changed until we deal with actual, real social problems. Withholding grants is silly.

HANK NEUFELD

Winnipeg

ñü

Call me old-fashioned, but I am of the opinion that it is primarily incumbent upon the people who wear the title of parent or guardian to guarantee school attendance.

Of course, school divisions have their part to play by having attendance officers and providing school buses, etc., but it should be the procreators who have this major task to perform; it is a natural assumption of parental duty and care.

TOM SHERBROOK

Gimli

The best Republican

Who is Allen Abel trying to kid? Old soldiers never die ..., June 30). John McCain was the best choice the Republicans had in 2008.

This doesn't mean he was the best choice Americans had, especially after he let himself be inflicted with Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate.

TIM SAYEAU

Winnipeg

Accurate and knowledgable

The June 27 article by James Jewell, Time to get victims off the street, was extremely accurate and required extensive experience, research and knowledge to write.

As a retired long-time homicide investigator and supervisor, I know first-hand of what he speaks, and I support fully his suggestions to address the problems.

HERB STEPHEN

Winnipeg

Transit off radar

With all the positive news of new downtown developments -- surface parking lots being developed, the Metropolitan Theatre, the Convention Centre addition, the development across from the MTS Centre -- it's like downtown is getting a heart transplant. But what about the arteries and veins that bring life to and from the heart?

It seems that rapid transit has fallen off the radar, with not even the completion of the Southwest Corridor underway, let alone other routes.

Every city with a vibrant downtown has a rapid transit system to get large numbers of people in there quickly and inexpensively. Winnipeg, what are you thinking?

GORDON LINNEY

Winnipeg

Afghans are free to act

Re: Shame falls to MacKay (Editorials, June 29). One would have thought after Richard Colvin's secret code stories, this nonsense would be over. But one should never dismiss the scorn of government bureaucrats doing things for partisan reasons.

Peter MacKay has nothing to be ashamed of. Afghanistan was not an occupied nation like France during the Second World War. Unlike France at the time, Afghanistan is a sovereign nation. And visiting troops in sovereign nations do not tell the host country how to act.

Of course, there is no question that Taliban prisoners were abused in Afghan hands. But once our army was sure of Afghan torture, prisoners were sent to different enclosures. It's contemptible that anyone in the media or any commission would believe there was some upper-brass conspiracy to send Taliban detainees to torture chambers.

DON HERMISTON

Winnipeg

A killer irony

There is irony in your June 30 edition as Dan Lett presents an article, The wrong call, maturely suggesting that more than inquiries are needed to address the tragedies of missing and slain women and in particular missing and slain First Nations women.

The irony is that a few pages over in Colleen Simard's column, Alone with Shawn Lamb, an alleged killer is given the podium to declare supposed "reasons" (although they are not presented as such) for his alleged deplorable actions.

I appreciate Simard's compassion, but between the lines of her column, and directly in the lines of the accused killer's published words, there is an undeniable and grossly ironic fascination with the icon of the serial killer.

At the root of Lett's column are constructive suggestions about what really might make our communities safer. At the root of Simard's column, and the editorial decision to publish the letters, is a morbid fascination with the mind of criminals. Worse yet, an unintentional result of the column is an increase of fame for these men by giving them the voice they desire.

Both of those things make our communities more dangerous. Fifteen minutes of fame for an alleged killer should not be extended to 20 minutes by anyone in our community, media included.

TIM BORYS

Winnipeg

Defining the end

Re: Ending the anguish (Letters, July 4). Life must be defined in federal and provincial law as beginning at conception and ending only with the natural, unassisted cessation of all vital functions of the body, including heartbeat, brain activity (including brain stem) and breathing.

Abortion and assisted suicide are inseparable. Seniors, already under extreme pressure, feel they are a burden to society. Senior abuse is a huge concern in Canada now. Add the "right to die" and they'll be pushed by their own caregivers to opt for assisted suicide. Why has life become so disposable in Canada?

REGINA HANSEN

Devon, Alta.

Praying for answers

The province should call an inquiry into the demolition of a church at 2093 Portage Avenue. The entire demolition has taken too long.

Also, there have been safety concerns. The debris-filled site continues to be an eyesore. Most demolitions are done quickly and efficiently. It is important to find out what went wrong with this particular demolition.

FRED MORRIS

Winnipeg

Confused with unicorns

Regarding The cutting edge (July 2), please know and understand that caribou do not have horns. They have antlers.

Parenthetically, with this information now in hand, you will appreciate that the names of the Manitoba hamlets Deerhorn and Moosehorn are likewise spurious.

LEO PETTIPAS

Winnipeg

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 5, 2012 A11