Police move to street from desks is right
12/29/2008There has been much discussion, pro and con, about the public servants in the City of Toledo. The Police Department and the Fire Department have responsibilities one can only imagine. One writer suggested they get out of the office and onto the streets. The behinds-the-scenes operations of these departments are monumental tasks that must be done.
Police Chief Mike Navarre has done the right thing by moving officers to the streets since the politicians are not willing to stress the need of public safety. They are tightening their belts, as we are, to make the most of the financial situations presented us.
Maybe the other departments should do the same, then we would not see two men on a garbage truck and three others following in a pickup. We wouldn't see one water and sewer worker in the trenches and six standing around watching.
The city fathers and mayor, should he elect to lead the way, must make the most of the city's financial situation. Although cost-cutting measures are not something anyone wants, they are needed.
Let's see property damage accidents called in rather than responded to; let's see the highway patrol handling accidents on the expressways surround the city rather than just doing speed control, and let's see cooperation by all departments, city fathers, and the media to make this work and preserve this city.
William D. Taylor
McClure, Ohio
Why are there so many people upset at Wal-Mart for selling products made in China? Every store has products made in China and other foreign countries.
We recently purchased the needed converter box for our TV.
We went to a locally owned store and chose an "American brand" but when we got the box home and were looking it over prior to installation, we found printed on the box "Made in China."
If you are going to complain about products made in China, be fair and name all the stores that carry products made overseas.
You would not have enough time or room to do so.
I don't often have opportunity to shop at Wal-Mart, but find it comparable to Kmart and Target.
Sharon Tipping
Ottawa Lake
I would like to thank the Lucas County commissioners for adding $1 to the real estate-conveyance fee.
Things are tough enough trying to sell my home at a loss, and you just made things that much rougher on everyone else.
You should be proud of yourselves.
If I should have any more troubles, I know I can count on you to help me and many others out.
Patrick Boyd
Maumee
As a native North Dakotan - and proud of it - I would like to add a few facts to The Blade's Dec. 17 guest editorial from the Chicago Tribune on corruption in North Dakota.
The Tribune failed to mention that the state is currently running a surplus in its budget and unemployment is virtually zero throughout the state.
If you break the law in North Dakota, you will be caught and prosecuted, which is not always the case in other parts of the country.
Illinois should be so lucky as to have prosecutors from North Dakota.
Chris Vogel
Perrysburg
When it comes to the bailout for the auto industry, Congress should do its job and ask all the questions that need to be answered. Lawmakers may even be correct when they told Detroit that the way they do business must change.
But I wonder how receptive Congress would be to the new president-elect asking - or the American people - demanding that it change the old tired way that it does business.
Change Congress' ways. Give a percentage of lawmakers' wages back to the American people. Pay for a percentage of their health insurance.
It would be great to be the fly on the wall watching the faces of these individuals if someone was to run those changes past them.
Mike Healy
Woodsdale Avenue
As a former Toledo resident who is now living and working as a U.S. diplomat in Mumbai, India, I am disheartened to read that Toledo's Children's Wonderland faces disappearance because of "Toledo's economic and budget crisis."
Children's Wonderland has been a part of Toledo for as long as I and many Toledoans can remember.
I took my children there every year when they were small and I want my grandson to be able to experience Children's Wonderland.
To see it close would send yet another despairing message to Toledo's residents.
Yet The Blade's Dec. 15 article, "On The Town: Holiday balls roll on" probably made most Toledo residents gag as it did me: Tuxedos, gowns, sipping, schmoozing - from the beef filets to the French opera cakes, guests dined in elegance and danced the nights away - from the Sylvania Country Club, to Stone Oak, Belmont, Toledo, and Inverness, the writer states. Is there really an economic crisis in Toledo?
Apparently, Toledo's country clubs are not feeling it but Children's Wonderland is.
Toledo, let's take Children's Wonderland back.
Joan I. Bower
Vice Consul
U.S. Consulate General
Mumbai, India
Begging to differ with the letter writer from Findlay who stated in the Dec. 12 edition of The Blade that the Republican-controlled Congress passed the NAFTA bill in "lock-step fashion," the record needs to be set straight.
Republicans did not control Congress until 1994. NAFTA was passed in November, 1993, with the Democrats in control. Further, Democratic President Bill Clinton signed the bill into law when he could have vetoed it.
The Democrats had a 258 to 199 majority in the House of Representatives, and a 56-43 advantage in the Senate.
The bill needed 218 votes to pass in the House and 50 votes to pass in the Senate, as there were only 99 senators at that time.
The Democrats could have passed the bill easily if Democrats in the House and Senate had just voted "in lock step with their party."
However, according to the Congressional Record, over 100 Democrats in the House and 27 Democrats in the Senate voted against NAFTA.
Those numbers are nearly equal to the number of Republicans who voted for passage.
As usual, Democrats cause the problem, then blame Republicans for their mess.
In the future, it might do the writer some good to check his facts instead of writing "in lock step" with Democrat talking points.
Scott Foor
Rossford
After 5, turn on
those headlights
Watch out for those 5 p.m. motorists who drive without their headlights on.
At least you can see a deer's eyes.
Gary Schmidt
Sylvania
Good grief! The possibility of the Senate being without a Kennedy for the fi rst time in a half century seems unbelievable.
Would the U.S. government collapse? Not! It might even
be a good thing.
CAROL SNIADOWSKI
Woodhurst Drive