Blame City for the loss of hockey

4/7/2005

I felt a part of my heart being torn out when I learned that the Toledo Storm might suspend operations next season. My partner and I have been season ticket holders for 11 years. We are diehard fans. We have watched some exciting games during those 11 years and were both very disappointed that the Storm may not be around next year.

Of course it should not come as a shock. Attendance has been down over the past few years. Plus the Sports Arena is a dinosaur. City officials have been talking about a new arena for more than 10 years. It has become a running joke at hockey games to speculate as to when a new arena will ever be built in Toledo.

Who's to blame for this?

Our city leaders.

For too many years city officials have bickered over where a new arena will be built. They can't even agree on a site. Why would an investor consider investing in a new arena when city officials can't even agree on where a new arena should be built?

Currently the City is paying someone to do a feasibility study on a new arena. Why? It should be a no-brainer that the city would reap huge benefits with a new state of the art arena.

Next year the Peoria Rivermen are moving up to the International Hockey League. If Toledo had a new arena we could possibly become an IHL team. Peoria isn't even as large a city as Toledo, yet it's able to field an IHL team.

It's time to stop talking and get the job done. Build the arena and I guarantee you will have no problem selling hockey tickets.

Jim Flynn

Glenwood Avenue

People want to ban cell phones in automobiles? When do they plan to remove the radio in my car and make it against the law for me to talk to a passenger? Have you ever seen the problems with kids in the back seat acting up? Do we outlaw children in autos until they are a certain age?

Oh yes, we must also ban any signs that people can view from the driver's seat. This would be a good thing with some billboards, but what about when you have to look for a street address or street name or look for exit signs on the interstates?

The problem is not the cell phone but the idiots who cannot watch what they are doing. How many accidents have been caused by people not on a cell phone but distracted by other things? Look at what happens on the road when there is a wreck. People looking at the wreck will hit each other.

MAC McCOY

East State Line Road

While Americans of all races and creeds are engaged in mortal combat on foreign soil defending democratic principles like equality and liberty, who would have imagined that citizens in our own community would need protection against hostile acts of discrimination?

We are disappointed and dismayed to learn that there are individuals in this community who would openly deny fellow Americans the opportunities for which our brave men and women are willing to risk life and limb.

The law is very clear.

The Civil Rights Act of 1968 (also known as the Fair Housing Act) prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, familial status, or handicap.

On behalf of the Toledo Chapter of The Links, Inc. I commend Re/Max Masters and its agent for having the courage to report this offensive behavior. Their affirmative acts confirm our belief that this community neither condones nor intends to return to the days where hostile conduct like that recently reported is the norm.

Every member of our community must remain vigilant in disavowing and reporting any act that denigrates another person based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, familial status, or handicap.

BILLIE JOHNSON

President

Toledo Chapter

The Links

I charge every lawmaker present and past with malfeasance for letting lowlifes in Ohio drive without insurance. Signing a piece of paper saying you have insurance is a joke. Either produce a valid insurance policy or walk.

"Oh, come on, let's be nice now. I have to be re-elected." Right. That's the problem.

Charles Dersher

West Alexis Road

Toledo City Council's decision to establish a municipal tow lot will cost the taxpayers $708,000 for the land purchase and securing $2.8 million in a bond to finance the purchase and development of the property.

The administration projects that if the project begins July 1, $454,000 in revenue will be generated over a six-month period.

This "business plan" has assumptions that are unrealistic and fall short of sound fiscal management. The assumptions defining staffing levels, hours of operation, current and future environmental issues, maintaining the current number of contractor towing companies, and the logistics are more optimistic then realistic.

Historically the City of Toledo has made other efforts to become entrepreneurial, most of which resulted with tax losses and had to be abandoned.

The list of these failed programs range from traffic aids, national volleyball courts, Christmas lights, and the list continues. The municipal tow lot is politically driven and destined to drive the general fund deeper into red ink.

D. MICHAEL COLLINS

Heatherwood Drive

The AARP is telling its members that President Bush's effort to reform Social Security will instead "destroy" it. This is incredibly reckless and irresponsible and couldn't be further from the truth.

The truth about the President's plan is that he would like to make sure Social Security is there for future generations while protecting the benefits of current retirees.

Giving younger workers the ability to voluntarily invest in personal accounts will provide them with a healthier retirement and also help relieve the stress on the system that is causing the solvency crisis.

Social Security will go bankrupt unless something is done. In 1950, there were 16 workers supporting every Social Security beneficiary. Today there are just over three. This is a recipe for disaster.

The AARP chooses instead to scare its membership into thinking that President Bush's action will destroy Social Security when in reality, doing nothing will.

KEVIN PERKINS

Maumee

Seeing the images of Terri Schiavo on every network brought back vivid memories of my mother-in-law, who at the age of 73 was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease and eventually died naturally from this devastating disease. She was in the same physical shape as Terri.

Over the years, the disease robbed her of her ability to walk, talk, eat, and drink. She couldn't even lift a finger to scratch her nose. She was never on any life support - a single feeding tube kept her alive.

Never once did any of her nine surviving children consider disconnecting her from her source of nutrition.

My mother-in-law buried two sons in her lifetime. No parent ever expects to do that, and when she died, I remembered the words that she spoke when her oldest son died: "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away - blessed be the name of the Lord."

Margarita Duran

Oregon

Reading the report about the Lucas County Democrats sanctioning Democratic elected officials made me wonder, at first, how did Tom DeLay infiltrate my party? But then I realized that we must have our own folks who are suicidal.

Jim Richard

Algonquin Parkway