Were we all pawns in band issue?

12/27/2006

Your Dec. 19 editorial, "And the band played on," led all to believe that Pawn pursued its constitutional right only to further the band's opinion that the band had no right to pursue what it saw as a constitutional issue. It is interesting that after a settlement was reached by both sides, the superintendent and the senior member of the board still have a problem with a resolution accomplished by this negotiated settlement.

It is quite possible that if the stubborn or possibly arrogant attitude of these individuals would not have prevailed, there would not have been $150,000 in legal bills. Board members Diane McKinney and Brian Hughes helped negotiate the settlement on behalf of the board.

Contrary to The Blade's opinion of a total capitulation on the part of the board, I believe the board dealt with an issue in a way that maintains balance in these situations. It appears that the stand taken by Luci Gernot was that there was not room for negotiation and that the original decision must stand. Taxpayers should be relieved it's over, but the only outrage should be that a compromise was not reached at the start.

Kenneth R. Gwozdz

Rossford

What's the problem with showing ID?

I'm a 1959 graduate of Scott High School and always had to show ID to get into any school activity. So what is the problem? The students should be willing show their ID if they are there to only watch the game!

Peggy Kuhnle

Maumee

Beware the dangers of antidepressants

The Blade's story that antidepressants may boost suicide risk in people 18 to 25 is something people of all ages should pay attention to. I have seen hundreds of news stories detailing suicides of people who were taking or recently taking antidepressants. In real life, people of all ages have committed suicide and other acts of violence against themselves and others while taking antidepressants.

In 2004 the FDA put a Black Box warning on antidepressants because of the suicide risk they pose to children 18 and under. It took two more years of lobbying by those who had lost husbands and wives to antidepressants before the FDA extended that warning up to age 25 for people taking antidepressants.

They had to overcome fierce counter-lobbying by drug companies and psychiatrists. Maybe in another five years that Black Box warning will be extended to the many elderly people psychiatry is now pushing on to antidepressants.

Despite the dangers antidepressants pose, the Ohio Department of Mental Health under Michael Hogan is actively assisting getting the TeenScreen Mental Health survey into Ohio public schools. The result is that thousands of kids are being newly diagnosed and misdiagnosed with mental illness and put on antidepressants.

A recent TeenScreen suicide and mental health survey done on 71 Mansfield, Ohio, ninth-graders resulted in 39 previously normal teens, or 55 percent of them, being sent to a mental health clinician for follow-up interviews. An Internet search of the word TeenScreen will educate and prepare parents on what TeenScreen is and whether they want to chance having their school child falsely labeled with a mental illness and put on suicide-inducing antidepressants..

Ernest Ryan

Temperance

A misunderstanding of concealed-carry

The Dec. 13 editorial, "Arrogance of the vanquished," indicated that you don't know or care about the Ohio Concealed Carry Law.

The Ohio legislature was doing what the people elected it to do. If it didn't, The Blade would surely, and properly, point that out as well.

It seems that the main reason for The Blade's aggravation is the override of the concealed-carry law veto by the governor.

What you should know is that when a police officer approaches a car he has stopped, he will know if the auto owner has a CCL as soon as he runs the license plate number, the driver, by law, must immediately inform the officer that he or she is a permit holder, if a firearm is in the car, and if so where, and the driver should keep his or her hands in sight at all times (a courtesy to the officer and a safety factor).

Of course, the police officer knows the auto operator with a CCL is a law-abiding citizen with no criminal record, a definite plus from approaching a car with a driver of unknown record.

On another note, the Dec. 15 editorial on the legislature's emasculation of the red-light law, written logically and with professional demeanor, was right on the money.

One should not need a police officer on every corner to enforce speed limits, red lights, or any other laws. Just because one doesn't like a law, it is the law. We are duty-bound to obey it.

Fred Nofziger

Maumee

We still have right to criticize President

A recent letter disagreed with a Blade editorial which had criticized Sen. James Webb for not showing proper respect for the President at a public function - the point being respect was owed to the office. The letter writer said the President had not earned respect. His letter resulted in another letter professing amusement that anyone could be outraged at President Bush, coming from the party of Bill Clinton.

The original writer had several reasons for not respecting this President. As the self-proclaimed "decider" he is responsible for fabricating reasons for invading Iraq, the Iraq war, Donald Rumsfeld, the Hurricane Katrina debacle, a unilateral policy denying basic constitutional civil rights, Abu Ghraib, etc.

The right to disrespect Mr. Bush is supposedly trumped by the Clinton reference, in the words, "Oval Office. Intern. Cigar."

If those words still carried the weight the author expected, his party would still be running the government next year.

D.H. Popp

Perrysburg

Iran's stance on Holocaust offensive

As a American and a Muslim I was deeply offended by the Iran government's ridiculous attempt to question the Holocaust. At a time when Muslims should be reflecting on their own problems and attempting to rectify the deep-rooted ills of their own society, they are wasting their time disparaging people who have already suffered so much over the centuries.

This is not only morally wrong but also contrary to our true Islamic religious values, which teach respect for all religions and all people.

The root cause of the issues of terrorism and decline of Muslim thought is related to fundamentalists in Saudi Arabia and Iran exporting their brand of terror to the rest of the Muslim world as part of a greater proxy war between them. Unless we, the United States, the leader of the free world, stop these two morally corrupt governments, we will not solve the long-term problem of terrorism or religious fundamentalism.

Imran Ali

Wembley Terrace West

Amend presidential term of office

Our Constitution is not set in stone. Amendments allow for change. If we could modify the presidential term of office to one six-year span, it would result in a more effective, efficient, and expedited agenda. This would eliminate the prolonged political disagreements, travel, and time spent in the first term campaigning for re-election.

Congress could easily adjust to this more efficient plan. With almost immediate communication and a knowledgeable electorate, issues and their impact are understood. A one-term presidency would be directed to the responsibility of the office.

HARRY MACK

Rudgate Boulevard

Your Dec. 17 article on Dana told it like it is. I have an idea.

When the quintet of Dana leaders go before the bankruptcy court for their bonuses, maybe they should be rewarded with the old stock.

Give them something to actually work toward: Not taking all of the stockholders for another ride.

Barbara Rose

Mapleway Drive