Lott crew can do the work

Your Aug. 1 front-page story "Lott's disabled cleaners replace union firm at Government Center" indicated a question of whether members of a work crew from Lott Industries -- individuals with developmental disabilities -- were up to the task of managing the janitorial duties at One Government Center.

Of course they are. If the 24 individuals did not have the ability, attitude, and potential for the job, they would not have been invited to join the work crew.

Even to question their capabilities speaks to attitudinal barriers that often prevent a person with disabilities from full access to the community -- to live, work, and socialize as all other citizens. Given the opportunities, individuals with disabilities can be viable and productive members of our community's work force.

Their efforts contribute to the greater awareness and understanding needed to erase attitudinal barriers and create possibilities.

John Trunk
Superintendent Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities Larc Lane

Happy for Lott, sad for displaced workers

My child will be one of the lucky Lott Industries employees taking over the janitorial duties at One Government Center. Lott is not at fault. I'm happy for my child; I'm sad for the former employees of Advanced Cleaning Contractors Inc. of Toledo, which Lott replaced.

Your article quoted a former Advanced Cleaning employee as saying: "You put me out of a job and give them a job?" Who does she mean by "them"? She said she has a child in a wheelchair. She should think before she speaks.

Dave Watson
Sylvania

Flag at half staff now overused

President Obama is ordering the flag to fly at half staff too often. The shootings in Colorado and Wisconsin were horrible, but do not merit the flag flying at half staff. Now whenever there is a shooting, people in that community will want to have the flag at half staff.

The flag should fly at half staff only if a high-ranking official dies.

Karen Jankowski
Perrysburg

Ban psychiatric drugs, not guns

It's easy to blame guns for mass shootings, but guns are only the tool that a deranged mind uses to kill people, much as a drunken driver uses a car to kill people ("Homicidal rampages defy crime patterns; Mass killings claim hundreds across U.S.," July 29). We don't blame cars for drunken-driving deaths.

The public does not need to own military-style assault rifles. But anyone who thinks killings will stop if we ban guns should look at the bigger picture.

People on psychiatric drugs need to be closely monitored. Better yet, drugs that cause people to become violent should be banned.

Ernest Ryan
Temperance