Letters to the Editor
Seniors need relief on taxes
8/10/2013Your July 29 article “Ohio cancels property tax rollback” says that the state will no longer subsidize property taxes on new levies for senior citizens. Price tags on school levies will soar.
If another school levy passes, I’ll have to pay even more taxes than I do now.
If teachers want a raise, they threaten to strike and hold students’ education hostage. Seniors on Social Security can threaten no one.
Anyone on Social Security should be exempt from property taxes. Let’s see if any municipality in Lucas County will support its seniors.
TERRY SEEMAN
Maumee
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DeVilbiss tiger lives on at zoo
On Aug. 3, 2003, 750 alumni, family, and friends gathered at the Toledo Zoo to dedicate the Thomas A. DeVilbiss High School Alumni Tiger Plaza. Funded by individuals affiliated with DeVilbiss — whose mascot was a tiger — the display of a tigress and her two cubs is a tribute to the school, the city, and the zoo.
Also created by this alumni effort was an endowment fund, managed by the Toledo Zoo Foundation. Earnings from this endowment are used by the zoo to offset costs of its tiger population.
Recent use of these funds include a closed-circuit camera system to monitor tiger den activity including the birth of cubs, and observations of the den and tiger family as the cubs grow.
DeVilbiss alumni marked the recent 10th anniversary of that dedication, which made Tiger Plaza a reality and a favorite photo opportunity for friends and patrons of the zoo.
DAVE STOUT
Lewis Center, Ohio
Editor’s note: The writer is a 1960 DeVilbiss graduate and chairman of the committee that oversaw development of the plaza.
Korean War vet salutes fans
July 27 marked 60 years since our fighting in the Korean War ceased (“Remember the Pueblo; the North Koreans sure do,” op-ed column, Aug. 4). On that day this year, members of the Korean War Veterans Association Chapter 131 participated in a pregame ceremony at Fifth Third Field with our color guard.
I threw out the ceremonial first pitch. The ovation we received was tremendous. I thank the Mud Hens fans. They made our day.
DICK MADRZYKOWSKI
President Korean War Veterans Association Chapter 131 Dorr Street
Fatal shooting leads to questions
It looks as if murder is legal in Toledo (“Man shot in reported break-in intoxicated,” July 30). The absence of charges in the fatal shooting of an unarmed young man is unthinkable.
Does this mean that fatally shooting someone cannot even be thought of as a crime, as long as someone recites the National Rifle Association mantra of self-defense?
This attitude will mean that more people will be killed. The man was trying to break into a home, but he was shot outside. If it’s legal to shoot someone outside your home and get away with it, why have police?
JOE HAMERNIK
Nebraska Avenue