Letters to the Editor

Toledo Express experience frustrating

7/15/2012

Your July 8 article about Toledo Express Airport caused me to recall my frustrations ("Other airports boom as Toledo's nose dives; Results revive questions on management").

I was in Orlando recently and had to fly back to Toledo for health reasons. The airfare from Orlando's Sanford airport was reasonable. However, the choice of only two flights a week to Toledo and the drive from Orlando to Sanford of more than an hour were frustrating.

Why can't an airline fly from Toledo Express to Orlando International Airport? It would benefit many people who are going to Orlando. Sanford is not convenient.

Why is it so difficult to fly from Toledo to many other destinations without having to stop in Detroit or Chicago? Flying is supposed to be a convenience, not a problem.

It is deplorable that, as your article detailed, a woman spent 17 hours getting from Portland, Ore., to Toledo to see her dying mother.

Toledo Express is beautiful and well-placed. Something drastic needs to be done before we lose it. Hasn't Toledo lost enough?

Pat Rison

Waterville

Express needs better selection

I checked into a flight from Toledo to Chicago 60 days in advance, attempting to support the local airport. The flight times were not as convenient as flights from Detroit.

The price to fly round-trip from Toledo was more than $800. The price from Detroit was $200. Needless to say, I booked through Detroit.

Local officials need to come up with creative ways to save Toledo Express, such as attracting nonstop flights to New York. I will be happy to fly out of Toledo Express if it can offer a better selection of flights at competitive prices.

Erin Thompson

119th Street

Allegiant's service sours family

On July 5, my father and sister were subjected to a nine-hour delay on an Allegiant Air flight from Toledo Express. The airline repeatedly added to the delay while it tried to fix an airplane, before it eventually brought in another plane.

No one would willingly sit around an airport for a 4:20 p.m. departure, and wait for the plane to depart at 1:20 a.m.

If the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority is trying to persuade other airlines to come to Toledo, it should first insist on better service from Allegiant.

My family no longer will patronize Allegiant or Toledo Express. I encourage others to check the track record of Allegiant in Toledo.

Jack Dibee

Avon, Ohio

Airport needs a better manager

Why not take the port authority out of the picture and replace it with someone who has entrepreneurial expertise? There must be a reason that other smaller airports are successful.

The difference is a manager who operates the airport as a business rather than a political entity, as you reported. Of course, making such a radical change and relinquishing government control will not be easy.

Don Mooney

Erie, Mich.

Flight-time change ruined experience

My wife, I, and our friends used to fly at least two or three times a year on Allegiant Air from Toledo to St. Petersburg.

Then Allegiant changed its flight time, so that a flight would arrive at 11 p.m. We had to pay for an extra day in a motel and to rent a car.

The answer to this problem: Fly Delta out of Detroit.

John Kralik

Oregon

Port authority should step aside

I am sure a lot of people would fly out of Toledo Express if flights were offered. Who wants to drive to Detroit Metro?

The port authority is not doing a good job. So bring on changes and give some other organization a chance.

Sharon Ridgely

Leesburg, Fla.

It's capitalism, not imperialism

I wonder whether there is a contingent of Europeans who think the United States has imperialistic ambitions because Walgreen Co. is investing $6.7 billion to buy into a European drugstore chain ("Walgreen to acquire 45% of European chain," June 20).

This would mimic the northwest Ohioans who think China has the same kind of ambitions because Dashing Pacific purchased the Marina District.

These purchases are by two companies that foresee a potential financial opportunity. This is capitalism, not imperialism.

Dave Anderson

Perrysburg

Chinese-made baseballs foul

My wife and I attended a Toledo Mud Hens baseball game recently. My wife caught a foul ball.

In examining the souvenir, I saw the manufacturer's name was stamped on the baseball. It was a nationally known maker of sporting goods. In fine print was stamped "China."

America's national pastime is supplied with products made in a foreign country. This is another indication of how American businesses are putting profits ahead of American pride of ownership, jobs, and the last vestige of a truly American heritage: baseball, a game invented by an American.

Making baseballs overseas is a tragic commentary on the battle among American heritage, American workers, and the greed of corporate America.

Ronald Atkins

Swanton

Editor's note: A Mud Hens spokesman said that the Detroit Tigers order baseballs for its minor-league affiliates, that Rawlings is the official baseball of the International League, and that the baseballs are made in China.

Medical marijuana should be state issue

Voters in November may have a chance to make medical marijuana a reality in Ohio ("Petitions filed to alter remapping; Voters First, We Are Ohio want amendment on Nov. 6 ballot," July 4).

A 2009 University of Cincinnati poll said that 73 percent of Ohio adults favored allowing the medical use of marijuana. Although Ohio legislators have had opportunities to legalize and regulate medical marijuana, they have instead opted to ignore the people.

The doom and gloom predicted by the federal Office of National Drug Control Policy and local police and health departments -- ranging from rampant drug use by schoolchildren to the breakdown of the fabric of society -- have failed to materialize.

Lawmakers would be well-advised to engage in a serious consideration of how Ohio will regulate medical marijuana, or the people will do it for them.

Jim White

Oregon