How astute are voters in Toledo?

11/16/2005

The Lucas County Board of Elections, not surprisingly, once again failed to perform effectively. Almost 12 hours after the polls closed, the results were finally tabulated: Carty is back and so are most of the same old council candidates. One begins to wonder how astute Toledo voters are.

Do they just go into the voting booth and look for old, familiar names?

Are they comfortable with the way things are in Toledo? Did they forget the eight years of Carty shenanigans?

Do they realize that long-serving council members Betty Shultz and Bob McCloskey are about to begin their fourth term in council, skirting the three-term limit? In place of these two tired politicos, the voters rejected the fresh, competent, and honest leadership potential of Bob Vasquez.

In its endorsement, The Blade said that Mr. Vasquez "may be more civically involved in the community than any candidate in recent memory."

Apparently the voters of Toledo did not find this quality to be important to them and to their city.

Yet, in a few months, these same incurious Toledo voters will, no doubt, be complaining about the condition of the city and the political hacks running it.

Denis Eble

Westcastle Drive

I read with great interest the Nov. 3 article about speed limits on Coder Road in Monclova Township. Yes, Coder Road speed limits are a valid concern, but with recent major residential growth in the township, other road speeds must also be addressed.

Specifically, Salisbury Road is a large concern. More and more residential subdivisions and homes are being built along this road, with more children potentially being on the road. School buses also frequent the road.

The current speed limits are 45 and 50 mph.

With all due respect to the Lucas County engineer's office, I think there are times they must recommend reducing speed limits without regard to their established "guidelines" for speed on a given road. In regard to Salisbury Road, the engineer's office performed a recent traffic study of this road between Holloway and Albon.

I don't know if the study is completed, but to date no speed-limit reduction has been made, and it appears their guidelines may not allow a reduction.

This is mostly a two-lane road with many subdivisions and direct access driveways without turn lanes for entering.

The Anthony Wayne Trail in Maumee has four lanes and is mostly posted at 50 mph until you enter the uptown area of Maumee, where speed is slowed to 35 mph.

In my opinion, the two-lane Salisbury Road in Monclova Township must be slowed to 35 mph due to many residential homes and young children populating the perimeter of this road. I pray each day that it does not take a child's death to prove my point.

Charles Carr

Monclova Township

I found The Blade's report on President Bush's speech in Brazil totally ironic when he denounced Latin American leaders "who rule by fear, divisiveness, and blame."

No doubt, he still hopes that his abysmal ratings will improve by continuing to govern by fear.

He narrowly won a second term by injecting fear into an American populace believing that their President was keeping them safe from terrorism.

They have not seen how this destructive man has, in essence, created terrorism, for Iraq, with no weapons of mass destruction, had no al-Qaeda terrorists until he deceptively planned and executed the invasion.

Mr. Bush has divided this country so badly that his deceptions, undergirded by some of his now known tainted, corrupt loyalists, warrant impeachment. He lied about WMD; hence, many Americans and Iraqis have died or been wounded. When Bill Clinton lied, nobody died, yet Republican strategists were enthusiastic about his impeachment. As Mr. Bush furthers political loyalty by not making appointments appealing to Democrats and moderate Republicans, he will continue to pull this country apart. Paranoid behavior (like that of Richard Nixon) is likely to surface.

"Blame" is a concept that Mr. Bush hardly ever accepts because his self-righteous ideology assures him that, regardless of his mistakes, he is right.

His ears remain deaf to the increasingly growing views of Americans that it is time to bring the troops home, for the almost daily deaths of the soldiers have caused his ratings to plummet.

It is sad to live in a country where compassion, reason, and understanding do not exist in the minds of those who govern us from the White House.

Wallace L. Pretzer

Bowling Green

President Bush's low poll numbers are being trumpeted daily as important news by the liberal media. History puts these numbers into perspective by showing us how great leaders and Presidents have handled the same low numbers.

Presidents Lincoln, Truman, and Reagan ignored the latest poll numbers and humbly continued to lead the nation with God's help during trying and divisive times.

Because of their great leadership and risk, slavery was abolished, the Union was restored, World War II was ended, communism was defeated, and America's economy was restored.

Margaret Thatcher faced down the old socialist politicians and unions of England, and her poll numbers plummeted. She, like President Reagan, is honored today, and England's economy is dynamic again. England's Neville Chamberlain appeased the terrorist Nazis, and Hitler only grew in power. The great Winston Churchill was then chosen to lead England successfully through World War II.

History, unfortunately, is showing again how the similar weak leadership of appeasement in France is emboldening the terrorists to riot and destroy their nation.

The same naysayers and prophets of doom who denounced these past leaders are around today.

President George W. Bush's decisive leadership is not politically correct or poll-friendly. We will continue to be the recipients of a strong economy and nation that has been free of terrorist attacks.

Jimmy Carter's weak leadership of malaise emboldened the terrorists in the Soviet Union and Iran. President Clinton's leadership direction depended on the latest poll numbers and focus groups, thus ignoring terrorism.

President Bush has been called on by Americans to lead and win our war on terror. History and Americans will place him among the great leaders of our nation and world as a result.

Tim Mohler

Perrysburg

Ten years ago I lived in southeast Michigan and always enjoyed reading The Blade. I recently began reading the Blade online edition.

I always found The Blade to be an excellent paper, with quality articles by quality writers. Imagine my surprise when I read Jack Kelly's opinion of Nov. 5 concerning the Libby indictment.

He cites the largely irrelevant Robb-Silberman report to defend the Bush Administration against charges of cooking prewar intelligence but doesn't mention the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans, where intelligence was filtered and fabricated when the CIA's reports were too "wishy-washy" to serve the administration's purpose.

He repeats the baseless theory that Saddam was so crafty that he moved his WMDs to another country in spite of massive surveillance directed at Iraq. He distorts the words of Joseph Wilson concerning his mission to Niger.

Mr. Kelly is a serial apologist for the Bush Administration. Why does The Blade provide him an outlet?

Steve Barker

Eaton Rapids, Mich.

Kudos to the Rev. Gary Blaine of First Unitarian Church and Norman Bell, Mary Kerazim, David Koeninger, and Jane Randell of the Clean Campaign Committee for a job well done. Being on call and having vacations interrupted to give service to the community is well appreciated.

Phineas Anderson

Perrysburg