Bridge namers are pussyfooting around
8/3/2001I can't believe it took the bridge naming committee almost two months to come up with its innocuous list of finalists. I suppose they had to tiptoe through the tulips so as to keep some people from having their bowels in an uproar.
However let's examine:
w Citizens' Crossing - Does this mean only citizens can cross? Will there be signs to direct non-citizens to where they can cross?
w Crossroads of America Bridge - Northwest Ohio is not a crossroads to anywhere unless you take the turnpike. Indiana has called itself Crossroads of America for years and years.
w Crystal Skyway - Where is the crystal? There is a Skyway Bridge in Florida. Now that has a nice ring to it, Skyway Bridge.
w Glass City variations - Hey! What happened to the suburbs? Wasn't this to be a northwest Ohio thing? Glass City? No more! No way!
w Great Lakes Gateway - Would it be a gateway if driving east?
w Mariners' Bridge - Is this for the Ancient Mariner or for the brave charter boat captains who go out on treacherous Lake Erie in search of walleyes?
w Maumee River Crossing - Signs better be posted at the entrance to the bridge informing drivers they can cross the Maumee River on other bridges.
w Toledo Harbor Gate Bridge and Toledo Renaissance Bridge - Northwest Ohio is washed out again. By the way, renaissance is a period of awakening. It does not relate to a physical structure or city.
w Veterans Memorial Bridge - If we are limited to the 12 selected names this one gets my vote even though it shows no imagination, is boring, and doesn't have a nice ring to it. (I served in the infantry in World War II.)
RONALD TALLOAK EVERETT
Old Stone Court
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Columnist Thomas Sowell makes the same old Republican argument that the minimum wage causes unemployment. That was their argument when President Clinton raised it, and look what's happened: more jobs, increased tax revenue, and a budget surplus.
Mr. Sowell said just over half the people earning it are 16 to 24, then two paragraphs later says the vast majority are youngsters just starting out.
Does he read his own columns? Other columnists who write for Creators Syndicate are right-wing zealots. They include Linda Chavez, President Bush's rejected labor secretary.
There is some hope, however, when a conservative blasts the Wall Street Journal. Mr. Sowell should also recognize that an increase will overwhelmingly benefit people of color; he's forgotten where he came from.
JAMES PERINE
Lima
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Check your AT&T statement and on the last page of charges and credits, notice the charge listed “universal connectivity.” That fee represents 9.9 percent of your long-distance bill. (It used to be 8.6 percent.) Supposedly, it goes toward providing service to low-income customers and customers in rural areas, and gives discounts on Internet access for eligible schools, libraries, and rural health-care providers. AT&T and other carriers passed on this charge to us because the government, three years ago, gave them permission to recoup these charges.
Now there are those who will say, so what, it's going for good causes. How do you know?
AT&T and the other carriers should not be allowed to pass along these charges without permission from their customers. I believe it's time for me to get a cell phone. AT&T's greed will cost it my business. Too bad for them. With most of my family in several states, I definitely have been a great customer.
MARION CULLUM
Grelyn Drive
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A recent letter contended that the Constitution prohibited Alexander Hamilton from becoming one of our first presidents on the grounds that Hamilton was not a natural-born citizen of the United States.
In fact, our Constitution did not make any such prohibition toward Alexander Hamilton. Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution in fact reads as follows: “No person except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President ...” (my emphasis added).
Because Hamilton was indeed a citizen of the United States at the time the Constitution was adopted in 1787 and subsequently put into effect in 1789, he satisfied the requirement for citizenship. The fact that he was born in the British West Indies was irrelevant in the eyes of the Constitution.
Many people in those early days of our country were not “natural-born citizens” because the United States had not existed for long. The writers of the Constitution recognized this, and they penned the Constitution to ensure this country had an adequately large pool of potential presidential candidates to get thing started. Thus, Alexander Hamilton and many of his contemporaries were “grandfathered in” as individuals eligible to run for president.
Whatever the reason Alexander Hamilton did not become one of our first presidents, it had nothing to do with the “law of the land.”
JEFFREY D. COOLMAN
Pemberton Drive
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The President and Congress face important decisions about life in the next few weeks. We need to be informed about the issues of embryonic research funding and cloning and give prayerful serious thought to these issues.
We are all in favor of finding a treatment for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. But in making a decision about the research involved we need to consider the following:
1. It has not been proved that embryonic stem cells have been effective in treating these diseases. In fact, better results have been obtained by using adult stem cells. Adult stem cells can be obtained from umbilical cords, placentas, and even fat tissue of adults.
2. A research physician has reported that it is easier and faster to prepare embryonic stem cells than to prepare adult stem cells for the research. Therefore, using adult stem cells would be more costly. So biotech companies favor embryonic stem cells.
3. In our country, it is illegal to kill an eagle or to destroy its eggs.
I am opposed to embryonic stem cell funding. It is ironic that it is illegal in our country to kill eagles or to destroy their eggs but is not illegal to destroy an embryo which is a potential human life.
Federal funding would be a federal license to kill these living embryos. And wouldn't it be a shame if the decision is made to obtain stem cells from embryos because it is cheaper?
PAT CORNELY
Tiffin
The President is looking out for us
I would like to thank President Bush for pushing for the tax refund of our money. I intend to take my money that I am getting back to do much-needed repairs to my car, which I drive daily for my job. My poor 1996 Taurus has 165,000 miles on it and won't be paid off for another year. Thank God someone in D.C. is looking out for those of us who pay taxes and don't have our hands out!
MARK S. CONNELLY
Perrysburg
Area soup kitchens would be grateful
May I suggest to the woman who is outraged by her meager refund check of $39.75 from George W. Bush that since her refund is not large enough to pay any of her bills, she should endorse it and donate it to any one of the soup kitchens in town. I'm sure it will buy a few cans of soup for the hungry and they will be most grateful.
MARY A. SCHNEIDER
Gilhouse Road