Letters, Jan. 19

On the road

Re: It’s time for a Ness Avenue redesign (Think Tank, Jan. 16)

Tyler Crichton makes a good argument for the causes of numerous accidents on Ness Avenue, including Ferry Street at Ness.

As stated, Ness is a long, straight street, and speed is a definite factor, so obviously this should be a first, and likely easiest step in reducing accidents. Ness is long enough to support a few varying speed corridors, similar to Grant Anenue, but taking into consideration that there is no structural divide in some sections.

Currently the speed limit is 60 km/h between St. James Street and Sturgeon Road. The stretch between St. James and Route 90 is short and a business zone, it is difficult to reach 60 km/h in this stretch anyway, so 50 km/h would have little impact.

Between Route 90 and just west of Sharp Boulevard, Ness Avenue, though divided, is a combination of residential, businesses, a major recreational centre, and crossings for area schools, making this a high traffic and pedestrian area, including the intersection in question. The stretch west is pretty much wide open due to the airport property on the north side, until entering the residential and school areas from Whitewold Road, (also an intersection of high collision). After Sturgeon Road, Ness narrows to one lane of mostly residential design, and the speed is already 50 km/h.

I mentioned Grant Avenue and a full drive along it will show areas that vary from 60 km/h to 50 km/h, return to 60 and reach 70 through to Charleswood, where speed again drops to 60. Drivers are given fair warning when entering reduced speed areas. Ness, for the most part would be safer with 50 km/h zones along it, with the exception of the mentioned stretch between west of Sharp Boulevard to an area approaching just east of Whytewold Road, (which is probably up for debate by various stakeholders).

Obviously it’s not a total solution, but every debate needs a reasonable starting point.

Ian Campbell

Winnipeg

Tyler Crichton’s article states that wide, straight roads “trick” Winnipeg drivers into going fast. Are drivers that gullible?

If the posted speed limit says 60, are you also tricked into believing you can do 70 or 80? One of the reasons people run yellow lights is because they are speeding, not because the road is “wide” and “straight.” You should have ample time to slow down when approaching a yellow light if you are doing the speed limit.

Why are we blaming a large portion of the accidents at this intersection on road design, when clearly, drivers are not obeying the speed signs, and driving carelessly? In the last few years, Winnipeg drivers have either forgotten or don’t care about how they drive. Behaviours such as speeding, tailgating, and never using their turn signals have become rampant.

You could engineer the perfect road design, but when it comes to the average driver in Winnipeg, they will still be “tricked” into going too fast.

David Taite

Winnipeg

New kind of MAGA

Despite reports of divisions within the MAGA movement, it is actually expanding. There is a MAGA movement in Colombia, Cuba, Denmark, Greenland and Canada.

Their MAGA mantra is “Make America Go Away.”

Likewise in the U.S., there is a new MAGA movement whose call to action is “Make Authoritarianism Go Away.”

Hopefully, the midterm elections in November will bring an end to American imperialism and authoritarianism. There is still light at the end of the tunnel.

Wally Barton

Winnipeg

On being humble

Re: Truth and trust: necessary but elusive (Think Tank, Jan. 15)

I am a great admirer of John Wiens as an opinion writer, dean emeritus at the faculty of education, University of Manitoba and former Seven Oaks School Division superintendent. Clearly, a well-accomplished person, who writes deeply on topics. It is important to remember who this writer is in order to understand what I am trying to say.

I am loath to have to take exception with what I consider a central point he made in Truth and Trust: necessary but elusive. I suggest that he too humbly says, “I cannot imagine knowing, and thus telling the ‘whole truth’ about even a single event, let alone world affairs.”

He goes on to say that he recognizes that there are people whose views are “generally distasteful, unsympathetic and hurtful.” I agree completely. Yet he suggests that he may be “viewed similarly by others.” He goes on saying that he should “give others the same benefit of the doubt that I allow myself.”

With respect to Wiens and Plato, I believe that “truth” exists. At the very least the broad outline of it. Readers of his article know he is referring to Trump. One may agree with this man’s politics but he is distasteful among other negative descriptors. This is in stark contrast to Wiens, who likely would have people who may disagree with his truth somewhere in his life, but far and away closer to it than “distasteful” people. Some people come closer to the truth than others by a long margin.

Most people deserve the benefit of the doubt that we should employ, but unfortunately, realistically and very carefully, there are those that don’t deserve that. Arguably it is not their fault, if you believe that we don’t possess free will but that is another matter.

Let us be confident to state a truth and claim higher ground from those who are clearly living in an alternate reality. One can be too humble.

Harvey Zahn

Winnipeg

New, cruel plan

According to the City of Winnipeg’s “Ground Squirrel Control 2026” public notice published in the Free Press on Jan. 14, the city wants to use Rozol to kill ground squirrels in nine athletic fields this year.

This is the second iteration of the war on ground squirrels declared by the city. The first was last year when the city’s plan to eradicate ground squirrel colonies with Giant Destroyer was shot down by the province due to public outcry.

Rozol is an anticoagulant. It causes death by internal bleeding, and it can take days for an animal to die after ingesting the poison. It is a terrible way to die.

The carnage doesn’t end there. As ground squirrels who ingest Rozol are weakened by progressive anemia, they are easy pickings for predators and, just like that, the anticoagulant enters the food chain. That means that if an owl or a dog or a cat or a crow — or a child for that matter — consumes a ground squirrel that has ingested Rozol, they become unintended victims.

This is 2026. There are ways to manage human-wildlife conflict that do not involve unleashing a powerful and unpredictable poison into our public spaces.

John Youngman

Winnipeg

Local tradition

The Free Press is almost as old as Manitoba! Reading it gives us pleasure in breaking from calamity to relax and read at our own leisure (with no crashes).

Rituals are a form of comfort and enjoyment. By supporting the Free Press, you support your community which, in turn, supports you. Hope more will join us soon.

After all, it’s a Winnipeg thing.

Jodene Stoski

Winnipeg