LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Discuss, don’t duplicate
5/15/2013Blade Associate Editor Keith C. Burris’s May 5 commentary, “Gangs in Toledo: Where do we go from here?”, was thoughtful and thought-provoking.
His suggestion, though, for “a round of public forums ... with maximum public participation, on the future of Toledo” would be wholly duplicative of, and could be fully subsumed in, the Future of Toledo strategic planning process co-chaired by leaders of the Toledo region’s business community.
Why doesn’t The Blade wrap other initiatives in which it participates, such as the “Authors! Authors!” series co-sponsored with the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, and the nonprofit excellence awards given by the Center for Nonprofit Resources of the Toledo Community Foundation, into the regional strategic planning process?
That’s what I would call systems thinking.
KEVIN E. JOYCE
Sylvania
■ The Libya truth starts to come out
The truth has finally started to come out about Benghazi, thanks to the brave testimony of Gregory Hicks, Mark Thompson, and Eric Nordstrom, career employees of the State Department (“Longtime official describes assault on U.S. consulate,” May 9).
Hillary Clinton was the secretary of state at the time of the attacks. She cleverly had U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice to come out and explain what happen on five network shows. She probably knew it was not the whole story, so she sent out Ms. Rice to give false information about Benghazi. This way, Mrs. Clinton was protected in case the truth came out.
It is alleged that President Obama went to bed on the night of the attack without calling back his secretary of Defense to find out what was happening. The Obama White House sees every event as a political event, even an attack on a consulate.
I hope the Blade prints all the facts about the Benghazi attack every day on the front page. No wonder most of our service members have little faith in our top leaders.
ROBERT H. SCHUSTER
Elmore
■ Deaths could have been prevented
No one should have to struggle to move past Benghazi. It seems evident that there were false reports from the start when we lost Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three brave security personnel, who we now know fought valiantly to protect themselves on Sept. 11, 2012.
Thanks to the persistence of people who came forward who are not politically motivated, who were told not to talk to Congress, and who were stellar employees of the State Department, we are learning some of the truth. The three whistle-blowers could not live with the mistruths that were emanating from the White House, the CIA, and the State Department.
Someone was trying to hide the truth about the ferocity of the events that led up to this tragic event. Why weren’t we prepared for terrorist attacks on this prominent date? Emails have shown that the amabassador and the other victims were asking for more security, and none was provided.
Americans only want to know the truth. Susan Rice went on all the network shows and blamed it on a video, when now it seems that most top officials knew it was a terrorist attack from the start.
Where is honesty in our government? Four brave Americans died for no reason, and I feel for the families of the victims.
STEVE ZUBER
Cedarhurst Rd.
■ Majority pays for minority
Owning a home in Maumee along a Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority bus line, I see empty buses go by daily.
Where does the money go? When did democracy become redefined as minority rule? We pay a great deal of money to shuttle a few people a month to various spots. Small call-a-ride vans would do.
Who is going to pay for the road repairs the huge buses require? Not the minority who would be better served by receiving free passes to smaller vans, saving taxpayers thousands.
TERRY SEEMAN
Maumee