Readers write (Feb. 16): Police, guns, wrestling, voting rights, snowbirds

After a Missouri man who had stabbed a police dog was fatally shot by an officer, the St. Paul Police Department should take a hard look at policies that call for treating dogs the same as human officers ("Police kill man after he fatally stabs St. Paul K-9," Feb. 13).

We don't know exactly what happened, but one can easily imagine behaving in self-defense when approached by a menacing German shepherd. Unfortunately, the news media has also focused on the dog's "sacrifice" rather than questioning the loss of the human life.

CHARLES CORCORAN, STILLWATER

• • •

I can't believe that the life of a dog is equal to that of a human being. I can't believe that a group of armed men with nightsticks and stun guns couldn't throw a blanket over the head of a man with a knife, who was trapped in the basement of a house surrounded by police. I can't believe the excuse for killing this man: He stabbed my dog! I do believe we have to speak out against this.

JOHN CRIVITS, ST. PAUL

* * *

BOB NELSON, PEQUOT LAKES

• • •

Seeing that the shelves are empty of all popular sizes of ammunition and that gun manufacturers can't make their product fast enough, Obama and the rest of the Democrats have now become responsible for the arming of America.

GARY FISCHBACH, ST. PAUL

* * *

MADDI GEMUENDEN, FOREST LAKE

• • •

The rich yahoos who run (and profit from) the Olympics have thrown out amateur wrestling, one of the longest-standing and most traditional of Olympic sports. Wrestling pits athletes of similar physical stature against each other. It's a truly democratic sport, because it makes room for all sizes of athletes and because the price of competition is relatively low. The real problem is that the majority of people reading this letter probably don't follow high school or college wrestling. Therefore, wrestling fans can't create a large enough demographic to satisfy the TV moguls. It's absurd to eliminate a sport that is more purely amateur than most. In the name of Dan Gable, save Olympic wrestling!

J.H. FONKERT, ST. PAUL

* * *

It is time for America to lower its voting age to 16.

SHEA BRENNAN, EDEN PRAIRIE

* * *

The article about Minnesotans packing themselves off to Florida haunts me ("Shooting ourselves in the wallet," Feb. 4). I'm inclined to send a guilt cloud to those folks who get to the highest level of the incomes but think they don't owe anything more to Minnesota for the good life they and their children experienced here. It may be tricky, but I hope the Minnesota Legislature will find a way to exact a tax on people who flee the state just long enough to avoid taxes and then return to enjoy all the benefits taxes provide.

MARTY ROSSMANN, ST. PAUL

Sorry, the too-tattooed job applicant gets no sympathy from this retired human-resources professional ("A taboo on tattoos shuts doors to some jobs," Feb. 14). Discrimination laws do not cover body art. Getting hired is a competitive process. Most jobs have many well-qualified applicants. Appearance matters. Candidates who arrive in T-shirts, cutoffs and flip-flops or with purple and orange dreadlocks, tongue jewelry that makes them lisp and visible tattoos are making a statement that their personal life choices are more important than their employment options. On the bright side, there are jobs at tattoo parlors, head shops and niche retailers where tattoos and implants would be a plus. There are also factory jobs and loading docks where no one cares what you look like.

ROCHELLE EASTMAN, SAVAGE

* * *

I suspect the actions by Farmington senior goaltender Austin Krause -- scoring on himself and flipping off his coaches -- reaffirms the reason the coaches didn't play him more in the first place ("In defiance, goalie scores on himself," Feb. 14).