Toledo's pain also felt north of the border

3/9/2007

Regarding your March 4 editorial, "Our arbitrary border," I wrote a letter to the editor several years ago concerning the efforts at that time to move the headquarters of Libbey-Owens-Ford, now Pilkington, to Frenchtown Township, Michigan. The point of my letter was simple. If LOF moved to Frenchtown Township, located north of Monroe, there would be an immediate negative effect on the City of Toledo.

It would also have a negative effect on the city's northern suburbs of Erie, Bedford, and Whiteford townships. These three townships are more closely linked economically and socially to metropolitan Toledo than they are to metropolitan Detroit or the city of Monroe. Including Monroe County in the Detroit Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area may be applicable for the northern half of the county but not the southern tier of townships.

Like it or not, Toledo is the core of our community. What hurts Toledo hurts us in southern Monroe County. The opposite is also true: what helps Toledo also helps us. The state line if viewed from a satellite is blurred. I could not agree more with your suggestion of joint cooperation between the two states in this region.

Dennis Jenkins

Community Development

and Planning Coordinator

Bedford Township

Community support of great comfort

On behalf of the Toledo Police Vice/Narcotics Bureau, I want to express our gratitude to the citizens of Toledo and the surrounding communities. We have been comforted by the outpouring of care and concern shown since Keith Dressel's tragic death.

The hundreds of people who lined the procession to his grave site, the police officers from 35 states saluting as we passed, citizens holding American flags, Bedford students and teachers standing in the cold with hands over hearts, and our brother Toledo Fire Department fire fighters standing at attention for hours all have our deepest gratitude.

The efforts of volunteers at Bedford Chapel, Mt. Carmel Church, the Toledo Police Patrolman's Association and Command Officers Association, the Toledo Fire Department, and the Erie Street Market were so very much appreciated. We have been comforted by their warmth, care, and concern.

Together with our fellow Toledo Police officers, we are all traveling this painful journey together. Their support has strengthened us and made it possible for us to get through this past week.

Danielle and the Dressel family know that we are their police family and will be there for all of them. Keith is with us and guiding us by the example he set. We will never forget.

Sgt. Carol Connelly

Vice/Narcotics Bureau

Toledo Police Department

Kids know parents' hands are tied

So now the mayor wants to hold all parents responsible for the actions of their children! I have a great idea. First let's take away all methods of disciplining the children. If parents take action to discipline them, let's call it child abuse and punish the adult. Next let's make sure parents know where their kids are 24/7. Let's shackle them together. That's the only way that parents would always know where their children are. Too many kids today have the attitude that "You can't do anything to me. It's against the law."

If a minor is determined to do bad things, no parent is going to be able to stop him from doing so in the present environment. I have seen kids who have been given every advantage in life do terrible things. They are more concerned with what their peers think than what the parents think, and they know their parents' hands are tied.

Every parent with a child who turns out OK should thank God every day that his child made the right choices. So now we have another wonderfully simplistic idea from our mayor. It must be terrible to have such a brilliant mind and have to deal with people who can see only one side of the coin.

John Huff

Douglas Road

No guarantees when raising a child

Having read the many letters that adamantly placed all the blame for the shooting of a police officer on the parents of the alleged perpetrators, I was reminded of my own feelings like that in the past. That was before we had difficulties with our child. I now know that parents can do all the right things when raising a child and the child may sometimes do wrong things.

Renee S. Drew

Temperance

Politics behind No Child Left Behind

The discrepancy in two recent federal reports, one showing high schoolers doing poorly on national tests and another showing how well they are doing based on school transcripts and other evidence, can be traced back to the political calculations that resulted in the No Child Left Behind law (NCLB).

Republicans are wary of national standards and a national curriculum and Democrats are wary of national testing. So Congress passed the buck to the 50 states.

States function in a political environment where elected officials want to reassure the public that schools are doing well and making progress. Even before NCLB became law we had 50 standards, 50 curricula, and 50 tests designed to meet the public's "comfort level." It is nearly impossible to reach a consensus on what's good or bad in this 50-50-50 mix. It is common to find states having evidence that a large percentage of their pupils are proficient in one area while a much smaller percentage reach that level on the national test.

Officials at all levels are acutely aware that, for a variety of reasons, strong national standards, curricula, tests, and honest reporting of results that are removed from the constraints of state and local politics would surely upset the public's "comfort level."

When you compare the present reality to the gold-standard benchmark, National Assessment of Educational Progress, it is not surprising to see these discrepancies.

Daniel Dlugas

Temperance

Here's what I'd do if I were president

As president I will lower gasoline prices below $1.40 a gallon and force the oil companies and the IRS to pay each American between the ages of 35 and 60 a $25,000 bonus check with no taxes taken out.

As president I also will put people with incomes of $1 million a year into a 45 percent tax bracket, $2 million or more, a 55 percent tax bracket. These people would still live the good life. People earning $100,000 or less, including married couples, would be in a 10 percent tax bracket. Above $100,000, a 15 percent tax bracket.

Property taxes would be cut to $800 a year for every household.

How could we afford this and also support schools, police and fire, and city crews, you ask?

As president I will stop sending American dollars to rebuild countries that are bombed by other countries. No more economic aid to countries we know cannot ever pay it back.

As president I will slash government by 50 percent, maybe even more, including the IRS as well.

Every child must graduate in order to get a driver's license. And each child upon turning the age of 18 who agrees to serve for two years or more in the U.S. military, upon completion will have their education completely paid for in whatever field they choose. No more student loans needed.

Would you vote for me so far?

Art Roehrig

Sylvania

Combining chief jobs is wrongheaded

I have difficulty understanding our mayor's thinking in combining the jobs of fire chief and police chief in an effort to balance the budget. That seems to say that at least one of those jobs isn't very important. I understand Chief Michael Navarre will be offered a mere $18,000 increase to do the work of two people. That doesn't seems reasonable when the news media have stated that a person to coordinate the baseball season for young boys will be paid $42,000. That's a pretty lucrative summer job.

According to census figures the population in Toledo has been declining. Why, then, do we continue to have the same number of council people? It seems there should be some adjustment in this area.

Marilyn Hummel

Fairgreen Drive

President Bush couldn't lead a silent prayer.

Mike Watkins

Bowling Green