The triumph of Lake High graduates

6/13/2006

The Lake High School Class of 2006 held its commencement June 4. Of a class of approximately 120 students, the Class of 2006 received a total $1.2 million in scholarships.

Compared to some other schools, that may not seem like much. However, for the Lake High graduates this is quite an accomplishment, considering the dark cloud this class has had hanging over its head for its last 2 1/2 years of high school.

As a Lake teacher, I've watched the student body endure the public humiliation and personal disappointment of numerous levy failures. They have been forced to defend their school to countless numbers of people who have asked them why their community does not support them.

Despite all of this, they have conducted themselves with dignity and grace, continuing to pursue and achieve their academic, as well as personal, goals. Not once have they used the lack of community support as a reason to give up or act out. They represent our school well, while making their respective contributions to the community at large.

The Class of 2006, in particular, has set a high standard for dealing with adversity. They are indicative of the vast majority of the people who attend Lake Local Schools. They have earned my respect and admiration.

The Class of 2006 and the rest of the Lake Local students have demonstrated time and time again that they are worthy of financial support from the community. Hopefully the voters will finally come through for them in August.

Amy Self

Waterville

It sure is nice to know we can count on the military to teach morality to our soldiers. This will take up the slack of parents, public education, activist judges, and businesses that dodge responsibilities of true leadership in a desire to appease a minority and eliminate the values upon which this country was founded.

The immorality problem could be addressed if it were legal to post - and teach understanding of and adherence to - the 10 Commandments. By the way, is it legal for our military to teach morality?

JIM KRUMM

Oak Park Drive

I recently have read about people getting busted for Internet porn at work or otherwise. Yes, there are many sick and twisted people out there, and they might be your neighbors. But how can you tell how old a person is when they are displaying their body on the Internet?

I get carded for tobacco products all the time, yet I'm far past the legal age. It's hard to ID a picture on the net. Did some of our parents and grandparents marry with significant age differences, and some at very young ages like 14? Were they sick, perverts, and freaks?

At what point in history did we as a society become ashamed of whom we physically are? We live in a world of shame. If you look at porn in the privacy of your own home, you're a pervert.

Maybe the only shame is that our society has become so obsessed with telling each other how to live we have forgotten what is really shameful. Things like running a corporation into the ground while executives get multimillion-dollar bonuses. Or maybe under-funding pension plans, leaving retirees penniless, dependent upon a deflating and inadequate Social Security program. But stealing from hundreds of thousands is not really a bad crime now, is it?

You might get a few years in jail, but please say hi to the pervert spending 10 to 15 for clicking a web page.

Nick Rinaldo

Perrysburg

I commend Rose Russell for her insightful column on the crisis in East Timor. Our daughter went to Dili in March as a short-term missionary to join an international team which is running a community center there called "Esperanca," Portuguese for "hope." She was evacuated last weekend to Australia but really wants to return to minister to the children, many of whom are enduring the second major upheaval in their young lives.

It is sad to say, but if it were not for this personal tie to the tragedy, I would probably not care nearly as much as I do about what is occurring there. Journalists like Ms. Russell help keep the rest of us informed and engaged in what is going on in our ever-shrinking world so we can pray, give, and encourage our government to be constructively involved in places where people desperately need our help.

Please pray for the peace of East Timor and for the thousands of innocent victims who are once again living in refugee camps due to yet another senseless man-made tragedy.

David Parker

Manchester, Conn.

Here we go again, Springfield schools need a levy passed so out comes the same ol' blackmail of the already too taxed taxpayers. Lets see, cut sports and other extracurricular activities, bus transportation, custodial staff, and on and on with the same old tune.

Back up to the article in The Blade last week when Lake Local reinstated bus transportation because it didn't save any money when it was stopped. It also put back custodial staff and sports.

Let's see your budget, Springfield. Let the taxpayers see what they are getting for their hard-earned dollar! I truly believe that these school boards are afraid to show us how our money is being spent. Stop letting educators make business decisions. Get a small-business owner to look at the books.

Dave Clarke

Marlaine Drive

After the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, it was interesting to note the reaction of various officials around the world, including Iraq Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani: "This is a new beginning."

Who's kidding whom? This convoluted logic can only compound the problem. Anyone with an IQ above room temperature knows there are tens of thousands of al-Zarqawis waiting in line to take his place.

This can be compared to the swatting of a mosquito and then thinking you have just eliminated malaria.

Fred Freer

Lambertville

King Kong has made the news in Toledo again. So for those too young to know who King Kong was, and for those too old to remember much of anything, King Kong was a movie made in the 1930s about a huge gorilla that terrorized New York City and scared the living hell out of Fay Wray as he dangled her from the top of the Empire State Building.

King Kong had lived on an island somewhere and his daily diet consisted of a virgin tied to the front of a compound where the natives huddled in fear and were fast running out of sacrificial virgins. The Americans arrived, captured King Kong, and brought him back to New York to exhibit him on stage and make a lot of money.

This disturbed King Kong. He broke loose, destroyed most of Manhattan, and stomped a lot of bystanders. Then he met Fay and fell in love. She could see this relationship was not going anywhere and she told the gorilla so, but he was persistent, and as the authorities were about to recapture him, he grabbed Fay and climbed to the top of the Empire State Building. We all thought he was either going to devour her or see how far he could throw her.

Airplanes arrived with the intention of shooting down King Kong, and all the while Faykept yelling "Put me down, you big ape!" He did, the planes shot King Kong, and he landed on 34th Street, right at Macy's front door.

Fay Wray lived through it all, the bad guys got their comeuppance, and we all went home convinced we had seen the scariest movie of all time.

See what you missed by staying home?

JOHN J. BURKHART

Eleanor Avenue

Regarding Genoa High School's softball team, I remember when "pulling an all-nighter" meant studying for an exam, not playing for a state softball championship.

Kevin Kelly

Oakdale Avenue